1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:06,160 Welcome to Episode 134. We are setting the stage for a 2 00:00:06,160 --> 00:00:09,960 showdown between two giants of the gaming world, Origins Game 3 00:00:09,960 --> 00:00:11,440 Fair and Gen. Con. 4 00:00:11,680 --> 00:00:15,440 It's a tale of two tables, each with its own vibe, its own 5 00:00:15,440 --> 00:00:18,080 heartbeat, and its own unforgettable moments. 6 00:00:18,080 --> 00:00:22,720 Origins, as we described weeks ago in our recap, feels like a 7 00:00:22,720 --> 00:00:27,360 slow pour of your favorite brew. Familiar faces, plenty of room 8 00:00:27,360 --> 00:00:29,560 to breathe, and tables full of connection. 9 00:00:29,800 --> 00:00:33,160 You'll find yourself sinking into rich Euro classics like 10 00:00:33,160 --> 00:00:38,040 Catan, Rococo and Raw, where every move invites conversation 11 00:00:38,200 --> 00:00:41,560 and strategy grows organically. It's a place where shared 12 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:44,920 experiences matter more than shopping, and where friendships 13 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,200 form in the quiet in between turns. 14 00:00:48,240 --> 00:00:52,160 Then there's Gen. Con last week, guys, a beast of 15 00:00:52,160 --> 00:00:56,200 pure energy and industry. It's a Thunder clap of dice 16 00:00:56,200 --> 00:00:59,960 rolls and discovery where adrenaline runs high and the 17 00:01:00,040 --> 00:01:05,040 halls echo with excitement. There we rode the tracks of 18 00:01:05,040 --> 00:01:09,560 Lightning Train, we scaled the walls of Castle Risers and 19 00:01:09,800 --> 00:01:13,560 recruited members to our secret society in Clandestine. 20 00:01:13,760 --> 00:01:15,280 Gen. Con is the place where every 21 00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,000 second is packed with possibility, from sneak peeks to 22 00:01:18,000 --> 00:01:22,520 surprise reveals to that one game you didn't plan to love but 23 00:01:22,520 --> 00:01:24,560 now you can't stop thinking about it. 24 00:01:24,560 --> 00:01:26,560 And it's living rent free in my brain. 25 00:01:26,760 --> 00:01:29,920 But no matter the con, it's the shared moments of the table that 26 00:01:30,040 --> 00:01:32,000 stick with us. It's the inside jokes, the 27 00:01:32,000 --> 00:01:36,160 triumphant cheers, and the vibrating tension of the true 28 00:01:36,160 --> 00:01:37,720 dungeon. Whether you're deep in the 29 00:01:37,720 --> 00:01:41,840 strategy weeds or laughing through a chaotic Co-op, it's 30 00:01:41,840 --> 00:01:44,360 those connections that make the con worth it. 31 00:01:44,360 --> 00:01:47,560 So settle in and roll with us, and let's unpack the unique 32 00:01:47,560 --> 00:01:50,680 magic of these two unforgettable gatherings. 33 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,760 Joining me once again, as promised, is Chris Preston. 34 00:01:55,000 --> 00:01:56,640 Chris, thanks for returning. How are you? 35 00:01:56,880 --> 00:01:58,720 I'm great man, thanks for having me back. 36 00:01:58,720 --> 00:02:00,800 Yeah, yeah. Well, we promised we were going 37 00:02:00,800 --> 00:02:03,440 to do this. And we, we deliver on our 38 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:04,520 promises. That's right. 39 00:02:04,520 --> 00:02:06,520 So Gen. Gencom was a week ago. 40 00:02:08,039 --> 00:02:09,479 Yes, it was. I know, right? 41 00:02:09,479 --> 00:02:11,320 It's crazy. So let's let's see. 42 00:02:11,320 --> 00:02:14,880 You were at, if I remember correctly, you were at Origins 43 00:02:14,880 --> 00:02:19,200 and you were working on the vendor hall floor for a game 44 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:21,680 publisher Bite wing. Bite Wing. 45 00:02:22,080 --> 00:02:25,320 Yep. And this year you were at Gen. 46 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:28,920 Con working the vendor hall floor for Pandasaurus games, 47 00:02:28,920 --> 00:02:29,840 right? Pandasaurus. 48 00:02:29,840 --> 00:02:31,640 Yes. And the only other time we've 49 00:02:31,640 --> 00:02:33,840 been to Gen. Con was in 22, three years ago. 50 00:02:33,840 --> 00:02:35,720 We worked with Pandasaurus that year as well. 51 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:37,600 So they obviously treated you well. 52 00:02:37,640 --> 00:02:39,760 Yeah, they're super great to work with. 53 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:43,080 They cover a badge, get a little bit of an hourly pay, we each 54 00:02:43,080 --> 00:02:46,760 get 2 free games and then 50% off up to five more games. 55 00:02:46,760 --> 00:02:48,640 Oh, that's cool. So, I mean, it's a pretty sweet 56 00:02:48,640 --> 00:02:50,720 gig. So Pandasaurus had a lot of 57 00:02:50,720 --> 00:02:53,520 content, a lot of games that came out that we had. 58 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:56,760 Oh my gosh, they. What did you decide to take 59 00:02:56,760 --> 00:02:58,360 home? What were your free copies? 60 00:02:58,360 --> 00:02:59,520 What were your? What did you get? 61 00:03:00,160 --> 00:03:03,200 We got I'll just, I've got, I've got them right here. 62 00:03:03,200 --> 00:03:07,120 So the first one we picked was Gatsby as a two player game. 63 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:11,480 Theme doesn't matter at all. We had so many people saying I 64 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:13,440 love the Gatsby book. What does this have to do with 65 00:03:13,440 --> 00:03:14,800 the book? Absolutely nothing. 66 00:03:14,960 --> 00:03:18,000 Nothing. But the art style is very art 67 00:03:18,000 --> 00:03:20,320 Deco nice. The theme is there if you really 68 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,000 want to try. They did a really good job in 69 00:03:22,000 --> 00:03:25,000 the rule book of like quoting the book and try to make it. 70 00:03:25,120 --> 00:03:27,400 But it's a great little two player tug of war, push and pull 71 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:28,880 game. People loved it. 72 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,480 We got let's see, I should have had these. 73 00:03:31,720 --> 00:03:32,160 That's OK. We. 74 00:03:32,160 --> 00:03:35,800 Got we got umbrella, which is a really interesting. 75 00:03:35,840 --> 00:03:38,800 It's not really a slide puzzle, but you're kind of sliding 76 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,000 umbrellas from zones above and below or left and right of your 77 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:45,560 board and trying to slide the the umbrellas around on your 78 00:03:45,560 --> 00:03:47,880 board. You'll slide one into a row and 79 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:51,800 you'll push the next one off to the opposite side with the goal 80 00:03:51,800 --> 00:03:55,480 of you've got these goal tiles you're trying to arrange to 81 00:03:55,480 --> 00:03:57,840 match one color to match the tile. 82 00:03:57,840 --> 00:04:00,120 And if you do that, you'll play scoring marker and you pass the 83 00:04:00,120 --> 00:04:02,800 tile to the next player. It's a neat little like. 84 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:05,840 Yeah, it's. Kind of slide puzzly in a way, 85 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:09,280 but the the weird thing is is you're going to have three or 86 00:04:09,280 --> 00:04:12,000 four of these these puzzles you're trying to fill, you have 87 00:04:12,000 --> 00:04:15,120 to plan multiple steps ahead or you're going to have a bad time. 88 00:04:15,120 --> 00:04:18,560 And then we got. So it sounds like I'm going to 89 00:04:18,560 --> 00:04:21,800 do terrible at that game. We got tricky kids. 90 00:04:21,800 --> 00:04:24,960 Oh, that's our. Great friend Danielle Reynolds. 91 00:04:24,960 --> 00:04:29,320 Yes, and Steven Ungaro, affectionately to me and a 92 00:04:29,480 --> 00:04:31,520 community of people online known as Plurpy. 93 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:33,800 This is one of his first published designs. 94 00:04:33,920 --> 00:04:35,600 It was funny. I was talking to Danielle about 95 00:04:35,600 --> 00:04:38,160 it and she was like, I want to I had this idea for a trick taking 96 00:04:38,160 --> 00:04:39,800 game, but I hate trick taking games. 97 00:04:39,920 --> 00:04:42,680 I don't play them. So I reached out to Steven and 98 00:04:42,680 --> 00:04:43,840 was like, hey, help me with this. 99 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:48,120 But the twist here is the cards don't have numbers on them at 100 00:04:48,120 --> 00:04:50,680 the start of the hand you're going to write numbers on them, 101 00:04:51,000 --> 00:04:55,880 but your total hand cannot exceed 21 or any of your points 102 00:04:55,880 --> 00:04:57,360 are lost. Nice. 103 00:04:57,360 --> 00:05:02,520 So, and after each trick, you get your card back in front of 104 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:04,280 you. And so you can kind of do the 105 00:05:04,280 --> 00:05:06,400 math toward the end of the hand and be like, well, you've played 106 00:05:06,400 --> 00:05:09,560 16 points in cards. You have 3 cards left. 107 00:05:09,560 --> 00:05:11,240 Yeah. And you can kind of do some 108 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:13,720 math. And then the last one we got was 109 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,840 look at the stars. This is the one Caitlin really 110 00:05:15,840 --> 00:05:17,360 wanted. It's a flippin, right? 111 00:05:17,560 --> 00:05:20,200 Where you're drawing constellations and you're trying 112 00:05:20,200 --> 00:05:21,880 to draw them in certain ways to score points. 113 00:05:21,920 --> 00:05:24,280 Excuse me, isn't it? We played it one night in our 114 00:05:24,280 --> 00:05:26,000 hotel room and really enjoyed it. 115 00:05:26,000 --> 00:05:28,560 And we need to try to play it again this weekend. 116 00:05:28,600 --> 00:05:31,680 We've been playing with the kids, trying to play through our 117 00:05:31,680 --> 00:05:34,800 stack of games we brought home. We've played most of them. 118 00:05:34,840 --> 00:05:36,280 Well, that's good. We haven't. 119 00:05:36,280 --> 00:05:37,720 Played the big ones yet? So. 120 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:40,280 Still, we still have a few games that we picked up from Gen. 121 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:42,800 Con that we haven't hit the table just yet, but we're we 122 00:05:42,800 --> 00:05:44,080 made a lot of progress this week. 123 00:05:44,360 --> 00:05:48,000 So we went to Pandasaurus Thursday morning because I, I 124 00:05:48,280 --> 00:05:51,800 stopped to see Danielle at Wise Wizard Games booth. 125 00:05:51,800 --> 00:05:54,520 She was working and she's like, you got to get tricky, tricky 126 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:58,320 kids because she's like, I think it's my best game ever and I'm 127 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:01,560 like wow because it's an. Old same because caution science 128 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:06,080 is awesome and it won more awards and they sold a ton of it 129 00:06:06,080 --> 00:06:08,720 again this year. And to keep with the comparison, 130 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:11,040 it won the fan favorite at Origins. 131 00:06:11,040 --> 00:06:13,520 Yeah, they had the trophy at the booth for Caution Science, so 132 00:06:13,520 --> 00:06:16,240 that was great. But they were sold out on 133 00:06:16,440 --> 00:06:18,920 Thursday, I guess. You know how they do that. 134 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:22,800 They bring out so many copies each day and they sell out, but 135 00:06:22,800 --> 00:06:23,800 then you go back to the next day. 136 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:25,800 I never made it back. Back in time. 137 00:06:25,800 --> 00:06:27,880 So we didn't get tricky kids. Bummer. 138 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,480 We did get Gatsby on recommendation from our good 139 00:06:31,480 --> 00:06:35,240 friend Craig and Becky to get into games on air, shoot out a 140 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,160 little plug. Yeah, So it's funny. 141 00:06:38,160 --> 00:06:42,440 Craig was texting me throughout the weekend and he was like just 142 00:06:42,440 --> 00:06:45,120 giving me directions. You need to get this, you need 143 00:06:45,120 --> 00:06:47,640 to go get that. Actually, I would do it every if 144 00:06:47,640 --> 00:06:49,640 he told me to go get it. I went and got it and. 145 00:06:49,720 --> 00:06:50,600 Absolutely. Right. 146 00:06:50,880 --> 00:06:54,640 And so we we picked up Gatsby. You're right, The theme is. 147 00:06:54,760 --> 00:06:56,800 The theme is. The theme is great if you're 148 00:06:56,800 --> 00:06:59,360 into it, but it's kind of pasted on. 149 00:06:59,400 --> 00:07:03,400 Yeah, which is in AI mean that game takes 15 to 20 minutes to 150 00:07:03,440 --> 00:07:05,600 play. It doesn't need to have the most 151 00:07:05,600 --> 00:07:07,920 immersive theme in the world. No, absolutely. 152 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:10,040 And it's. There was some, so that was one 153 00:07:10,040 --> 00:07:12,200 of the ones that Caitlin and I taught a lot throughout the 154 00:07:12,200 --> 00:07:14,240 weekend. I so basically working with 155 00:07:14,240 --> 00:07:16,720 Pandasaurus, I taught a far away a few times. 156 00:07:16,760 --> 00:07:20,000 I taught a lot of Gatsby, a lot of sea salt and paper, and a lot 157 00:07:20,000 --> 00:07:21,600 of Pixies. Oh yeah. 158 00:07:21,600 --> 00:07:26,160 And a couple games of Kodo and then a whole lot of The Mind 159 00:07:26,160 --> 00:07:29,320 Soul. The Mind Soul Mates and Gatsby 160 00:07:29,320 --> 00:07:31,080 were probably the two I ended up teaching the most. 161 00:07:31,080 --> 00:07:33,680 But we kind of like floated. I had like 4 tables. 162 00:07:33,680 --> 00:07:35,640 I just constantly was like floating between and. 163 00:07:35,640 --> 00:07:40,640 It was very chaotic. That's because you're a machine 164 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:44,880 and I don't think Pantosaurus realized what an asset you are. 165 00:07:44,880 --> 00:07:50,400 So if anyone, if anyone who is an actual employee of 166 00:07:50,400 --> 00:07:53,960 Pantosaurus and you're listening to this podcast and you're 167 00:07:53,960 --> 00:07:58,240 looking for employees, Chris Preston is available and he's 168 00:07:58,240 --> 00:08:00,240 done some great work for you in the past. 169 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:01,840 So there you go. There you go. 170 00:08:02,640 --> 00:08:06,360 I did not ask for that. No, he didn't crack that at all. 171 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:08,200 He did not. So the other thing that we 172 00:08:08,200 --> 00:08:12,440 picked up at Pandasaurus was the extra pepper expansion. 173 00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:15,120 Or I wanted it but I didn't get a copy of it. 174 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:17,640 That was like priority number one. 175 00:08:17,640 --> 00:08:20,800 We have to get extra pepper. We've got extra salt, salt and 176 00:08:20,800 --> 00:08:25,120 sea salt and paper is a huge, fantastic game, fantastic 177 00:08:25,120 --> 00:08:26,320 design. I. 178 00:08:26,320 --> 00:08:29,520 Really want to play extra pepper even more than extra salt. 179 00:08:29,520 --> 00:08:32,640 Extra salt adds some cool dual alternatives. 180 00:08:32,640 --> 00:08:35,360 Yeah, but Pepper sounds like it. It is. 181 00:08:35,559 --> 00:08:38,280 So I did manage to get the Pixies expansion before we sold 182 00:08:38,280 --> 00:08:39,919 out. Oh, good, good. 183 00:08:39,919 --> 00:08:41,960 Which is really cool. Yeah, so. 184 00:08:42,720 --> 00:08:43,200 But. Yeah. 185 00:08:43,559 --> 00:08:46,520 No, we, we had some, what I was saying with that with all the 186 00:08:46,520 --> 00:08:50,360 tables is Gatsby had some really fun moments watching people play 187 00:08:50,360 --> 00:08:53,360 and get it. And some of the bonus effects. 188 00:08:53,360 --> 00:08:55,120 Like there was one where somebody had filled up a 189 00:08:55,120 --> 00:08:58,520 racetrack, but the racetrack they filled up the last spot was 190 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:01,240 swap a token and then they stole the race. 191 00:09:01,520 --> 00:09:04,680 And it was this big like, oh, you can't do that. 192 00:09:04,680 --> 00:09:08,040 I was like, no, you can't. So we had to look at the rules 193 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:09,920 and verify the order of operations. 194 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,160 So I mean theme, sure, who cares. 195 00:09:13,160 --> 00:09:16,440 But it's it's a great little push and pull tug of war if you 196 00:09:16,440 --> 00:09:19,880 like 2 player games at 1520 minutes with some good strategy. 197 00:09:20,320 --> 00:09:23,280 I will say that the one thing that I thought was unique about 198 00:09:23,280 --> 00:09:25,440 Gatsby is it is the push and pull. 199 00:09:25,640 --> 00:09:29,800 But you basically you could have 3 little games going on, right? 200 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:33,120 So you had mentioned the race tracks, so you're putting tokens 201 00:09:33,120 --> 00:09:36,280 to try to get a majority and so many race tracks. 202 00:09:36,480 --> 00:09:38,640 And then there's that. What do you call it that like AI 203 00:09:38,640 --> 00:09:40,440 call it? AI call it the tower. 204 00:09:40,560 --> 00:09:43,440 The tower, the tech tree, whatever you're trying to move 205 00:09:43,440 --> 00:09:45,000 up. And as you move up, you get 206 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:47,000 bonuses. And then there's like a table 207 00:09:47,000 --> 00:09:48,600 where you're trying to draw in a line. 208 00:09:49,120 --> 00:09:51,440 Yeah, Yeah. So that was kind of cool. 209 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:54,560 And then you had like a special action that was set reserved 210 00:09:54,560 --> 00:09:55,920 just for yourself. That makes the game. 211 00:09:56,000 --> 00:10:00,600 So, yeah, yeah. So that so it had the design of 212 00:10:00,600 --> 00:10:03,480 the game, had some cool moments. Absolutely. 213 00:10:03,720 --> 00:10:06,400 I mean, it's also. But the theme was Bruno. 214 00:10:06,400 --> 00:10:09,160 Cathalo is one of the designers on it, so he knows what I mean. 215 00:10:09,440 --> 00:10:11,440 Right. He's been at this a long time. 216 00:10:11,440 --> 00:10:15,160 The the theme though, I think, I think if there's any weakness in 217 00:10:15,160 --> 00:10:17,960 the game, it's that you could strip the theme off and you 218 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:21,680 could put something. Else in his place, yeah, I think 219 00:10:22,280 --> 00:10:25,720 they did an OK job trying, but Oh yeah, at the end of the day, 220 00:10:25,920 --> 00:10:28,720 it's still a great game and the artworks great. 221 00:10:28,800 --> 00:10:31,360 Yep. So how would you rate your 222 00:10:31,480 --> 00:10:34,720 overall experience of Gen. Con this year? 223 00:10:34,720 --> 00:10:37,560 Before or after we found out we came home with COVID? 224 00:10:38,040 --> 00:10:41,120 Well, that doesn't count. We're going to put an asterisk. 225 00:10:41,120 --> 00:10:42,600 We're. Going to put an asterisk there. 226 00:10:42,720 --> 00:10:45,400 That's the one thing Origins has a leg up on as I didn't come 227 00:10:45,400 --> 00:10:49,520 home sick man, it's hard. It was I saw one of my friends 228 00:10:49,520 --> 00:10:52,280 talking about it online and he said for some reason this year 229 00:10:52,280 --> 00:10:55,640 felt so much more exhausting than other Gen. cons in a good 230 00:10:55,640 --> 00:10:59,960 way like not a bad thing, but just that they were worn out 231 00:10:59,960 --> 00:11:01,320 more than normal. Sure. 232 00:11:01,320 --> 00:11:04,520 And I think I felt that more this year than three years ago. 233 00:11:04,640 --> 00:11:07,040 OK. And I don't know why because I 234 00:11:07,040 --> 00:11:10,200 don't think we did. I think we even did less this 235 00:11:10,200 --> 00:11:11,720 year than we did three years ago. 236 00:11:11,720 --> 00:11:14,880 But that's not to say anything negative to the score. 237 00:11:14,880 --> 00:11:18,200 It's just hard because it it just felt like a lot. 238 00:11:18,680 --> 00:11:21,040 That said, it was an absolute blast. 239 00:11:21,120 --> 00:11:24,400 And you know, your intro, you mentioned the adrenaline of it 240 00:11:24,440 --> 00:11:26,880 and that's something that I didn't feel it origins right 241 00:11:27,560 --> 00:11:29,600 there. There's a vast difference of 242 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:34,920 1618 thousand and 7580 thousand and it just I mean that 243 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:39,200 adrenaline of like I've got to get through the hall again. 244 00:11:39,200 --> 00:11:41,400 I've got to, you know, here's these boosts that I didn't get 245 00:11:41,400 --> 00:11:44,400 to yet or I've got to get this game before it sells out and 246 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,920 I've got to get my galactic cruise all in bundle and we and 247 00:11:47,920 --> 00:11:49,640 we did. Good for you. 248 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:53,040 You know, so it's just one of those things and there there 249 00:11:53,040 --> 00:11:57,920 wasn't enough time, right? Like I think I had a list and we 250 00:11:57,920 --> 00:12:00,000 didn't get through it all and. OK. 251 00:12:00,960 --> 00:12:03,280 And not that that's a bad thing, I put so much on the list to 252 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:05,760 look at, but there were a few boots that I was bummed I didn't 253 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:07,640 make it to. There were a few games I wanted 254 00:12:07,640 --> 00:12:09,720 to look at that I didn't get to, but that's the nature of the 255 00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:12,440 beast. That hall is just insanely 256 00:12:12,440 --> 00:12:16,160 massive and even though I feel like we walked the whole thing 3 257 00:12:16,160 --> 00:12:18,560 or 4 times throughout the weekend, there were still boots. 258 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:20,720 I never saw the Oink boots right? 259 00:12:20,720 --> 00:12:21,880 Like I don't even know where it was. 260 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:26,920 Ice, I saw it because it had one of those hovering signs over 261 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:30,000 top, but I never made it to the Oink booth proper. 262 00:12:30,000 --> 00:12:32,520 Hell, let's be honest. So let's break it down real 263 00:12:32,520 --> 00:12:35,840 quick how I experienced Gen. Con overall the show because 264 00:12:35,840 --> 00:12:37,520 Katie and I did things a little bit differently. 265 00:12:37,720 --> 00:12:40,960 She was with me on Thursday and she was with me on Saturday, 266 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:44,560 Friday or Sunday, Sunday along with her sister. 267 00:12:44,560 --> 00:12:47,240 So and that's when we saw each other, which we'll definitely 268 00:12:47,240 --> 00:12:51,400 come back to that. So Friday and Saturday was PJ 269 00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:55,200 rapping out meeple to meeple, networking, just going wild 270 00:12:55,200 --> 00:12:57,960 crazy. So Thursday we walked the vendor 271 00:12:57,960 --> 00:13:00,280 hall. Katie and I had specific people 272 00:13:00,280 --> 00:13:04,240 we wanted to either see or we wanted to purchase games or look 273 00:13:04,240 --> 00:13:07,200 at games to demo to determine if we wanted to buy. 274 00:13:07,560 --> 00:13:09,160 And so we did. We did that right. 275 00:13:09,360 --> 00:13:12,760 We hit that list and then she left Thursday afternoon. 276 00:13:12,880 --> 00:13:14,720 And then Friday and Saturday was just epic. 277 00:13:14,800 --> 00:13:19,040 And then Sunday we casually walk the vendor hall with her and her 278 00:13:19,040 --> 00:13:22,800 sister with the focus primarily on two things. 279 00:13:22,800 --> 00:13:25,040 We had two objectives on Saturday, on Sunday. 280 00:13:25,360 --> 00:13:29,360 I don't know why I keep saying Saturday, Sunday, Sunday. 281 00:13:29,360 --> 00:13:33,560 So we were looking for games focused on our five year old 282 00:13:33,560 --> 00:13:37,440 nephew who Katie had spent the weekend with her sister and her 283 00:13:37,440 --> 00:13:40,520 son. And so his birthday's coming up. 284 00:13:40,520 --> 00:13:43,680 So we were looking for more games for him because he's turns 285 00:13:43,680 --> 00:13:45,920 5. He's getting to that age where 286 00:13:45,920 --> 00:13:48,520 he's starting to show an interest in board games. 287 00:13:48,960 --> 00:13:51,800 So that was the first thing. Our second goal was that we had 288 00:13:51,800 --> 00:13:54,400 to see you and your wife. Yeah, that was that. 289 00:13:54,400 --> 00:13:56,040 Because we. Because I had missed you. 290 00:13:56,120 --> 00:13:56,920 Yes. Thank you. 291 00:13:57,160 --> 00:13:58,760 You came by the booth Thursday morning. 292 00:13:58,760 --> 00:14:00,240 I don't know how we didn't see each other. 293 00:14:00,360 --> 00:14:02,720 I don't know. I was, I think because we were 294 00:14:02,720 --> 00:14:06,240 focused on get this, we needed extra Pepper and Gatsby. 295 00:14:06,240 --> 00:14:11,120 So we got it and we moved on. It's very mission focused on 296 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:12,800 Thursday. Yeah, absolutely. 297 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:16,200 But we did see you on Sunday and we got to chat for a bit while 298 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:17,840 you were teaching you salt and paper. 299 00:14:18,080 --> 00:14:19,240 Yep. So yeah. 300 00:14:19,520 --> 00:14:24,160 So how was the, how was the vendor hall floor experience 301 00:14:24,160 --> 00:14:28,280 between Origins and Gen. Con, putting aside the sheer 302 00:14:28,280 --> 00:14:30,520 number of people? Because that's obviously, yeah. 303 00:14:30,680 --> 00:14:33,960 I mean teaching games wise it was pretty similar. 304 00:14:33,960 --> 00:14:37,720 Bitewing is a much newer and not quite as big of a company as 305 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:40,560 Panda so I think people are still learning them and 306 00:14:40,560 --> 00:14:44,400 discovering their games. But the excitement level of both 307 00:14:44,400 --> 00:14:47,520 booths and the games there between the two cons was pretty 308 00:14:47,520 --> 00:14:48,920 comparable. OK. 309 00:14:49,600 --> 00:14:52,960 Because Bitewingers had had had some stuff just delivered that a 310 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:55,200 lot of people were interested in and had on their list at 311 00:14:55,200 --> 00:14:57,200 Origins. And they were easy teachers. 312 00:14:57,200 --> 00:14:59,280 They were easy cells. People wanted them. 313 00:14:59,440 --> 00:15:03,000 And same thing with Pandasaurus. Now Pandasaurus, like you 314 00:15:03,000 --> 00:15:07,600 mentioned, they had, it was probably 7 or 8 new releases at 315 00:15:07,600 --> 00:15:08,080 Gen. Con. 316 00:15:08,120 --> 00:15:12,400 I mean, just the sheer number of games on the shelves was insane. 317 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:17,560 And we had what, 678 demo tables, I think, in the booth. 318 00:15:17,840 --> 00:15:22,280 And so, I mean, it was just as far as the booth and Asaurus was 319 00:15:22,280 --> 00:15:26,400 much busier constantly. But I think a large part of that 320 00:15:26,400 --> 00:15:31,800 is part of the crowd size because it was rare at Origins 321 00:15:31,800 --> 00:15:34,320 that we weren't doing anything. You know, I was pretty much 322 00:15:34,320 --> 00:15:37,080 teaching constantly or talking to people, answering questions 323 00:15:37,080 --> 00:15:40,760 about games. And so it was, you know, pretty 324 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:43,600 comparable experience, similar excitement, energy level. 325 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:45,680 I think Panda Source is probably just a little bit busier. 326 00:15:46,040 --> 00:15:48,360 But again, that that could just be the nature of Gen. 327 00:15:48,360 --> 00:15:50,360 Khan being so much larger than Origins. 328 00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:55,000 And I tell you, when the doors open Thursday morning at 10:00, 329 00:15:55,040 --> 00:15:58,600 we were slammed immediately for about 3 hours. 330 00:15:58,840 --> 00:16:02,800 I mean we had they had a cash wrap line that zigzagged 3 times 331 00:16:03,080 --> 00:16:07,040 and then went down and out the booth and it was just crazy. 332 00:16:07,120 --> 00:16:10,680 So I've said this before, on previous episodes with Gen. 333 00:16:10,680 --> 00:16:12,320 Con recaps, I've talked about this. 334 00:16:12,320 --> 00:16:15,480 I'm a firm believer that Thursday at 10 AM. 335 00:16:15,640 --> 00:16:17,840 Don't be in the craft. Yeah, that's the running of the 336 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:19,640 nerds. Everyone goes wild. 337 00:16:19,640 --> 00:16:21,880 Crazy. I think it's a absurd and I want 338 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:23,400 no party. It's fun to watch. 339 00:16:24,200 --> 00:16:27,760 It's not even fun to watch. From above, it's fun to like 340 00:16:27,760 --> 00:16:30,320 see. Having done that, I'm like, oh 341 00:16:30,320 --> 00:16:33,600 look, it's a mass of people. Just that is no thank you. 342 00:16:33,640 --> 00:16:39,960 So we had an 8 to 10 AM play test session on Thursday at the 343 00:16:39,960 --> 00:16:44,840 first exposure play test hall and we play tested this really 344 00:16:44,840 --> 00:16:47,560 great game called Galactic Frontier. 345 00:16:47,680 --> 00:16:49,760 So be on the lookout for it guys. 346 00:16:49,760 --> 00:16:53,200 It's by Diamond Design Studios. It's almost as if I've got the 347 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:54,720 business cards prompted right here. 348 00:16:54,760 --> 00:16:59,800 So it's this interesting X, but it's a card game and the cards 349 00:16:59,800 --> 00:17:04,319 are your exploration of the map. They're your resources, they are 350 00:17:04,319 --> 00:17:07,520 your ships there, your, your crew. 351 00:17:07,680 --> 00:17:10,920 So like the, the deck of cards represents everything. 352 00:17:11,079 --> 00:17:15,480 So it's just a deck of cards. There's no other tokens or 353 00:17:15,480 --> 00:17:18,319 anything like that, which is it does it really well. 354 00:17:18,319 --> 00:17:20,520 It was really just just boggling for us. 355 00:17:20,640 --> 00:17:22,240 So that was that was really cool. 356 00:17:22,240 --> 00:17:24,359 And then those of you who listen to the Gen. 357 00:17:24,359 --> 00:17:28,240 Con prep episode between me and Drew Denning, so that after that 358 00:17:28,480 --> 00:17:32,080 play test session, we had a moment that Drew and I described 359 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:34,760 in the episode. I walked up to him and I was 360 00:17:34,760 --> 00:17:38,080 trying to read his body language to see if he had which hat he 361 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:40,560 was wearing. Is this Drew busy or can I go 362 00:17:40,560 --> 00:17:43,240 and talk to him? He was busy, but I waited. 363 00:17:43,440 --> 00:17:46,520 We hugged, we took a picture. And then I had to take off for 364 00:17:46,520 --> 00:17:48,600 another event, which was at 10 AM. 365 00:17:48,600 --> 00:17:50,680 So I missed the running of the nerds. 366 00:17:50,760 --> 00:17:52,360 I didn't rush into the vendor hall. 367 00:17:52,360 --> 00:17:53,000 I don't. Yeah. 368 00:17:53,480 --> 00:17:56,920 Yeah, well, and that's one of the things I like about working 369 00:17:57,600 --> 00:18:01,440 is you get in ahead of the rush, your shifts over, the rush has 370 00:18:01,440 --> 00:18:04,120 died down, and you just get to go peruse the hall. 371 00:18:04,360 --> 00:18:06,600 Now the interesting thing is I don't know if you remember 3 372 00:18:06,600 --> 00:18:09,000 years ago when we were there, when we actually met in person 373 00:18:09,000 --> 00:18:13,840 the first time, Pandasaurus had an event room across the way 374 00:18:13,840 --> 00:18:17,160 from the main hall and that's where we worked. 375 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:19,040 So we each I. Do remember that. 376 00:18:19,160 --> 00:18:23,160 We did 2 sessions, two of those ticketed event 2 hour blocks 377 00:18:23,160 --> 00:18:25,480 where we taught a game and walked them through the play. 378 00:18:25,960 --> 00:18:29,280 We did that two of those blocks for a four hour shift and then 379 00:18:29,280 --> 00:18:31,840 we were free. And so we didn't even get to 380 00:18:31,840 --> 00:18:34,800 like we I found a video on my memories recently where I was 381 00:18:34,800 --> 00:18:37,400 going to the bathroom or getting some water and I had to like 382 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,120 snake through that crowd Thursday morning before the 383 00:18:40,120 --> 00:18:42,200 doors open. And it was crazy. 384 00:18:42,200 --> 00:18:47,080 But so it's interesting being in the hall and seeing it rush in. 385 00:18:47,080 --> 00:18:49,360 That was like, it was, you know, it was really cool. 386 00:18:49,800 --> 00:18:52,280 But I don't know, I don't know why they didn't do the event 387 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:53,360 room. I know it's a whole lot more 388 00:18:53,360 --> 00:18:55,440 money and it's a lot more to manage and maybe they just 389 00:18:55,440 --> 00:18:56,720 didn't feel like they can pull it off. 390 00:18:56,720 --> 00:18:58,280 But I think it had pros and cons. 391 00:18:58,280 --> 00:19:01,840 I think I liked being in the hall better because it's more 392 00:19:02,000 --> 00:19:06,080 more energizing and more and it's easier to see people and 393 00:19:06,120 --> 00:19:08,400 you know, there's so many people that just stroll by the booth as 394 00:19:08,400 --> 00:19:10,920 opposed to coming in the room because it's a little more out 395 00:19:10,920 --> 00:19:13,880 of the way. The only drawback is that, well, 396 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,960 it's a catch 22. Our shifts that year were from 397 00:19:17,000 --> 00:19:21,040 8:00 to noon, which meant we had to get up a lot earlier, but 398 00:19:21,040 --> 00:19:23,640 then we were done at noon so we could take a little bit to 399 00:19:23,640 --> 00:19:27,320 breathe and eat lunch and then have one to six in the hall 400 00:19:27,400 --> 00:19:30,040 every day, right? Well, this year we didn't get 401 00:19:30,040 --> 00:19:34,560 off until 2/2, 2:30, depending on the day and just teaching a 402 00:19:34,560 --> 00:19:35,520 game and getting out of the booth. 403 00:19:35,520 --> 00:19:37,360 And so we didn't have near as much time. 404 00:19:37,360 --> 00:19:38,720 We got to sleep in a little bit more. 405 00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:40,360 Sure. Didn't have to get there quite 406 00:19:40,360 --> 00:19:44,440 as early, but we also didn't have as much time in the hall. 407 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:45,560 So it's kind of one of those things. 408 00:19:45,560 --> 00:19:47,720 It's kind of a bummer. I think we still have plenty of 409 00:19:47,720 --> 00:19:51,000 time in the hall. But you mentioned that 410 00:19:51,000 --> 00:19:53,400 adrenaline. When I've got my list and I 411 00:19:53,400 --> 00:19:56,120 don't have a lot of time, Caitlin gets a little irritated. 412 00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:57,280 She's like, I'm gonna go sit down. 413 00:19:57,320 --> 00:19:58,480 I'm gonna go let you do your thing. 414 00:19:58,640 --> 00:20:02,080 Yeah, cuz she doesn't. Standing all day is really hard 415 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:06,240 for her and she doesn't enjoy standing and hearing demos of 416 00:20:06,240 --> 00:20:07,880 games. If she can sit and learn it, 417 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:11,160 it's a whole lot better. And that's, you know, most 418 00:20:11,160 --> 00:20:13,080 booths don't have that and some do. 419 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:14,920 And that made it a lot easier when they did. 420 00:20:14,920 --> 00:20:17,920 But but yeah, so that, that was the one thing drawback, cuz we 421 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,200 just didn't have quite as much time to peruse the hall as I 422 00:20:20,200 --> 00:20:22,000 wanted, right? And there were several. 423 00:20:22,280 --> 00:20:24,240 And as a result, I had to prioritize. 424 00:20:24,480 --> 00:20:26,800 And, you know, I knew there were a few booths that were top of 425 00:20:26,800 --> 00:20:28,080 the list that I wanted to get to. 426 00:20:28,120 --> 00:20:30,480 There were some that I really wanted to check out the games 427 00:20:30,480 --> 00:20:32,440 and potentially buy. Well, they were sold out by the 428 00:20:32,440 --> 00:20:34,640 time I got there later in the weekend because they ended up 429 00:20:34,640 --> 00:20:36,440 being a hotter ticket item. Yeah. 430 00:20:36,760 --> 00:20:39,680 Was it Broadway toys? I think they had a game called 431 00:20:39,680 --> 00:20:41,520 Wondrous. Was it Wondrous Museum? 432 00:20:41,520 --> 00:20:43,440 Something like that. And I ended up getting a quick. 433 00:20:43,440 --> 00:20:45,760 Sold out so I. Don't know, yeah, I got a quick 434 00:20:45,760 --> 00:20:48,600 overview of it and it seemed like a game we would enjoy. 435 00:20:48,840 --> 00:20:51,160 But you know, they were out so I didn't get to do it. 436 00:20:51,160 --> 00:20:53,240 But we spent plenty of money, so it's not a big. 437 00:20:53,240 --> 00:20:54,320 Deal. Oh yeah, I hear you. 438 00:20:54,320 --> 00:20:59,560 What was the the one the one get you missed? 439 00:20:59,600 --> 00:21:01,840 Like what was it that you're really, I really wanted this 440 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:05,800 game, but they sold out. Koi probably, yeah, we well, and 441 00:21:05,800 --> 00:21:08,040 the frustrating thing is, is we didn't even get to demo it until 442 00:21:08,040 --> 00:21:12,600 the very end of hall hours on Sunday just because of every 443 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,240 time we went by there, the table was full and we wouldn't have 444 00:21:15,240 --> 00:21:17,400 been able to buy it anyway because they did an allotment 445 00:21:17,400 --> 00:21:19,480 each day and they were pretty much sold out by the time we 446 00:21:19,480 --> 00:21:22,880 would have gotten there. But we're in, we're we're doing 447 00:21:22,880 --> 00:21:25,760 the demo on Sunday and Caitlin and the lady said we're sold 448 00:21:25,760 --> 00:21:28,080 out. We should have more in stores in 449 00:21:28,080 --> 00:21:30,200 October and Caitlin's birthdays in November. 450 00:21:30,200 --> 00:21:31,960 She's like, hey, it's just in time for my birthday. 451 00:21:32,040 --> 00:21:35,720 So I like it. I know I had messaged you about 452 00:21:35,720 --> 00:21:37,440 that one ahead of time. I don't know if you got to check 453 00:21:37,440 --> 00:21:41,040 it out or not. But I saw it, we we looked at it 454 00:21:41,040 --> 00:21:43,000 and it was kind of like it was just one of those things where 455 00:21:43,000 --> 00:21:45,360 it's like, yeah, we know we can get it later. 456 00:21:45,360 --> 00:21:48,520 So we passed. So the game for me, the the one 457 00:21:48,520 --> 00:21:50,360 that I missed, it's the same situation. 458 00:21:50,360 --> 00:21:52,480 They had an allotment. It went a lot. 459 00:21:52,800 --> 00:21:55,040 And that was the Battle of Hoth from. 460 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:57,840 Yeah, several people got a copy of it that I know. 461 00:21:58,120 --> 00:22:01,080 I know, so did I, I knew some folks who got copies. 462 00:22:01,080 --> 00:22:04,480 It was one that I was really, I wanted to get a copy of it and 463 00:22:05,040 --> 00:22:07,800 you know, okay, I know it'll come out, it'll hit retail. 464 00:22:08,160 --> 00:22:10,560 Yeah, it'll hit retail and I'll get a copy and that'll be fine. 465 00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:13,120 But I was really hoping to get that and take it home. 466 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:17,480 So I realized that, and some people said this, it's just the 467 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:21,680 days of Wonder, Undone, Undaunted, or Memoir 44. 468 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,840 Memoir 44 Star Wars, which makes it automatically better. 469 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:30,760 Well, so I agree in this instance because Katie's not 470 00:22:30,760 --> 00:22:33,760 really big into war games, historical war games. 471 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:37,240 Storming the beaches of Normandy is not really something that 472 00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:39,200 will thematically. Capture her. 473 00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:43,520 We're kind of the same way. But the Battle of Hoth from 474 00:22:43,520 --> 00:22:46,320 Emperor Strikes back, it's just, it's classic and. 475 00:22:46,360 --> 00:22:48,920 And it's epic looking. It is like the way they did the 476 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:51,560 design and the table presence. It just looked, Yeah. 477 00:22:51,720 --> 00:22:57,200 Did you see the giant version? I always I was like, I really, I 478 00:22:57,200 --> 00:23:00,880 tried to, I went up to so I went up to one of the asthma day. 479 00:23:01,160 --> 00:23:03,800 I don't know if it was contract workers or they were actually 480 00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,520 employed, but I was like, do you have a copy about old Hoth? 481 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,240 I know it's an absurd question, Like, Oh no, we're sold out the 482 00:23:10,240 --> 00:23:11,680 allotment. I'm like, I understand. 483 00:23:12,080 --> 00:23:15,960 I was like, so that big copy on the table, how much do you want 484 00:23:15,960 --> 00:23:19,760 for that? I was like, when the con is 485 00:23:19,760 --> 00:23:22,640 over, I'll buy that. Oh my God, it was so cool. 486 00:23:22,640 --> 00:23:25,440 Even the cards like. Yeah, they were massive. 487 00:23:25,520 --> 00:23:27,640 You could see them. There was down the down. 488 00:23:28,880 --> 00:23:32,360 Yeah, Asthma Day had a couple of games that supposedly were 489 00:23:32,360 --> 00:23:35,880 supposed to be out for demo but weren't, and I was kind of 490 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,160 bummed about, I don't know if maybe 7 Wonders Dice was one of 491 00:23:39,160 --> 00:23:40,240 them. I don't know if maybe it just 492 00:23:40,240 --> 00:23:42,720 didn't make it in time, but I asked people a couple of times 493 00:23:42,720 --> 00:23:43,920 and they're like, I don't know what you're talking. 494 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:45,920 About nobody saw. That contract worker and they 495 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:49,080 don't know, but that was one that I was hoping to try. 7 496 00:23:49,080 --> 00:23:51,240 Wonders is a good series I enjoy. 497 00:23:51,240 --> 00:23:54,280 I think Dual's my favorite of it, but I always like a dice 498 00:23:54,280 --> 00:23:56,360 twist on a game, and so I was really interested in that one, 499 00:23:56,360 --> 00:23:59,040 but it wasn't there, so. It's. 500 00:23:59,120 --> 00:24:00,200 Disappointing. Yeah. 501 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:02,400 But that that happened with several publishers were there, 502 00:24:02,400 --> 00:24:05,240 like, we just, it didn't come in in time, You know, shipments, 503 00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:07,440 shipping is kind of a mess right now. 504 00:24:07,440 --> 00:24:08,880 And it really. Yeah, I mean, that was 505 00:24:08,880 --> 00:24:10,920 Pandasaurus. All their new stuff they air 506 00:24:10,920 --> 00:24:13,120 freighted. And so Shackleton Base was a hot 507 00:24:13,120 --> 00:24:16,080 ticket item and it didn't sell out quite as quick as they 508 00:24:16,080 --> 00:24:19,280 thought it would, but it still sold out Saturday at some point 509 00:24:19,280 --> 00:24:21,160 in the day. But because they had to air 510 00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:24,960 freight everything, that box is huge and heavy and they only 511 00:24:25,080 --> 00:24:27,600 could afford to air freight so many copies over. 512 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:33,560 So you were in a unique position because you're working the 513 00:24:33,560 --> 00:24:36,320 vendor hall floor, which means even though even though you're 514 00:24:36,320 --> 00:24:39,720 teaching a game, whatever that is, people are talking about 515 00:24:39,720 --> 00:24:42,880 things they saw and then you walk to the hall yourself. 516 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:47,520 So at the end of the convention, was there like 1 designer or one 517 00:24:47,520 --> 00:24:50,160 game? That generated a lot of buzz 518 00:24:50,160 --> 00:24:54,640 that either it either surprised you or just in general, what was 519 00:24:54,640 --> 00:24:57,320 everyone talking about? What did you get a sense of? 520 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:00,880 Because there's just so much. There is so much, there is so 521 00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:03,280 much. But that is one thing I do enjoy 522 00:25:03,280 --> 00:25:05,960 about working the conventions and even, you know, conventions 523 00:25:05,960 --> 00:25:08,280 I don't work at. Anytime we're waiting in line 524 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,240 for bathroom or library, I'm always like, hey, what's hitting 525 00:25:11,240 --> 00:25:12,360 for y'all? What are you finding? 526 00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:13,800 Like what's, what's standing out? 527 00:25:13,800 --> 00:25:16,800 Because I like to know. And so anytime I'm like teaching 528 00:25:16,800 --> 00:25:19,760 a game, if once I've taught it and they're playing it or we're 529 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:21,720 wrapping it up, or if I'm resetting it while I'm 530 00:25:21,720 --> 00:25:23,520 resetting, I'm like, so what's standing out to you? 531 00:25:23,520 --> 00:25:24,680 What have you found this weekend? 532 00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:27,040 I don't know that there was one. I mean, a lot of people are 533 00:25:27,040 --> 00:25:29,160 talking about battle, ha. A lot of people were talking 534 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:33,400 about what were a couple of the other hot tickets. 535 00:25:33,400 --> 00:25:36,280 So why you that's OK? Why you think about that? 536 00:25:36,960 --> 00:25:38,360 OK. I'll tell you because there was 537 00:25:38,360 --> 00:25:43,160 one that it stood out for me personally, but I heard a lot of 538 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,080 designers. So it was interesting because 539 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,160 Friday and Saturday I was rapping out meatball to 540 00:25:47,160 --> 00:25:49,360 Meatball. So I was interacting with a lot 541 00:25:49,360 --> 00:25:53,240 of designers, a lot of marketing managers for different 542 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:55,320 publishers. There was a lot of talk about 543 00:25:55,320 --> 00:26:00,720 Mosaic games from and yes, that is our good friend Palgan, who 544 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,480 was featured on the show. But and I got to meet him and it 545 00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,520 was really exciting, but. Well, good for you. 546 00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,560 I tried. I went by the booth and right as 547 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:11,760 we got there, somebody's miking him. 548 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:14,520 Is that his wife? That's his wife who had like 549 00:26:14,520 --> 00:26:16,760 they were going. Yeah, they were miking. 550 00:26:16,800 --> 00:26:19,680 They were miking them up to do a video interview. 551 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:22,400 Right as we got there, they were getting ready for it. 552 00:26:22,400 --> 00:26:24,840 So like, I was right there. I was at the booth. 553 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:28,400 I did get an overview of Try Garam and one of the other 554 00:26:28,400 --> 00:26:31,480 games, but I didn't get a chance to meet him and that was the 555 00:26:31,480 --> 00:26:33,040 first day and we'd ever made it back over. 556 00:26:33,200 --> 00:26:35,000 There, Yeah. But I tried. 557 00:26:35,080 --> 00:26:39,080 But everyone, everyone kept talking about mosaic games, 558 00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:40,680 Yeah. Which is super cool. 559 00:26:40,720 --> 00:26:44,320 Yeah, Tom Vassell made his way over to the booth and he did a, 560 00:26:44,640 --> 00:26:47,240 he did a little thing there, board game. 561 00:26:47,240 --> 00:26:50,120 Steph and her partner were over there. 562 00:26:50,120 --> 00:26:53,240 There was just a lot of lot of people repping out Mosaic, and 563 00:26:53,240 --> 00:26:55,480 I'm glad because it was their first Gen. 564 00:26:55,480 --> 00:26:56,960 Con. I know that was a big deal. 565 00:26:57,440 --> 00:27:00,520 They brought uninvited guests at a wedding, which was their. 566 00:27:00,520 --> 00:27:01,920 Yeah. That was the other one we got an 567 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,680 overview of. It was Jag, Aram and that. 568 00:27:03,680 --> 00:27:06,800 Game is fun that game that. Seemed really interesting. 569 00:27:06,840 --> 00:27:10,560 Yep, It's kind of a, it's kind of a, it's a deduction game, not 570 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:13,080 a social deduction, but a card deduction game. 571 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:16,800 And you're trying to hide the evidence that you're there, but 572 00:27:16,800 --> 00:27:20,040 then you're trying to accuse the other players to fight, you 573 00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:23,800 know, to discover who they are and reveal that to the host. 574 00:27:24,080 --> 00:27:27,640 Hey, look, Chris is a uninvited guest, so I can survive. 575 00:27:27,800 --> 00:27:30,360 But a very cool game and. But it was cool hearing about 576 00:27:30,360 --> 00:27:34,040 that from them because the lady that that showed us the game, 577 00:27:34,240 --> 00:27:38,120 she's like, you would be surprised as to like how big of 578 00:27:38,120 --> 00:27:40,520 a deal like people just show up to eat at these weddings 579 00:27:40,520 --> 00:27:44,240 completely uninvited and it is not abnormal and you're just 580 00:27:44,240 --> 00:27:46,360 trying to blend in, get your food and get out. 581 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:50,560 So it was it was super cool hearing about their culture. 582 00:27:50,560 --> 00:27:56,360 Yes, and where the game design came from, you know, And so I 583 00:27:56,360 --> 00:27:57,880 thought that was super neat, yeah. 584 00:27:58,120 --> 00:28:01,880 So shout out again to Palgan and his team at Mosaic. 585 00:28:01,880 --> 00:28:03,600 Hopefully, Palgan, I'll get to meet you next time. 586 00:28:03,600 --> 00:28:07,080 Yeah, I tried. He'll, he'll be back. 587 00:28:07,280 --> 00:28:09,680 He'll be back, I'm sure. Yeah, definitely. 588 00:28:09,680 --> 00:28:11,640 All right, I have a question for you. 589 00:28:11,760 --> 00:28:14,360 Yeah, go ahead. I've been pondering because I've 590 00:28:14,360 --> 00:28:18,720 been seeing it on social media posts because of course, after 591 00:28:18,720 --> 00:28:19,760 Gen. Con, what do you do? 592 00:28:19,760 --> 00:28:22,080 You take a picture of everything you brought, you post it on all 593 00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:25,240 the groups and everybody Gox and everybody's like, oh, I bought 594 00:28:25,240 --> 00:28:28,000 those or some of those games are terrible, but some of you know 595 00:28:28,200 --> 00:28:29,520 all sorts of conversations. Sure. 596 00:28:29,520 --> 00:28:32,960 Alongside of that are always a handful of posts in the board 597 00:28:32,960 --> 00:28:36,760 game groups of why do people buy all these games at Gen. 598 00:28:36,760 --> 00:28:38,440 Con? Like what's the point? 599 00:28:38,520 --> 00:28:40,200 Why do you go to Gen. Con? 600 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:43,560 Why spend all this money on games that you can buy in a 601 00:28:43,560 --> 00:28:46,000 month or two at a store and you don't have to go to the 602 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:47,800 convention? So I've been processing my 603 00:28:47,800 --> 00:28:51,440 thoughts on that and several of the the comments were helpful, 604 00:28:51,440 --> 00:28:54,560 but I'm curious as to if you have any thoughts on that for 605 00:28:54,600 --> 00:28:57,360 you personally. There are multiple layers to 606 00:28:57,360 --> 00:28:59,640 that question. Oh absolutely. 607 00:28:59,640 --> 00:29:02,840 Which question is it that you want to ask me? 608 00:29:02,960 --> 00:29:04,840 Yes. Both and. 609 00:29:05,360 --> 00:29:07,120 Yeah. So let's start with the games. 610 00:29:07,120 --> 00:29:10,360 Like what's because you even mentioned there's two games you 611 00:29:10,360 --> 00:29:12,440 didn't get. Well, there's probably more than 612 00:29:12,440 --> 00:29:15,160 that, but we mentioned 2 specifically that you'll just 613 00:29:15,160 --> 00:29:16,040 buy them later. Yep. 614 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:19,360 So for you, when you go to Gen. Con with a list of games to buy, 615 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,560 what's the point of buying at Gen. 616 00:29:22,560 --> 00:29:24,800 Con versus waiting for retail? So. 617 00:29:25,120 --> 00:29:27,360 Because then you have to travel with them, then you have to haul 618 00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:29,920 them around a convention and so. Absolutely, absolutely. 619 00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,760 You know, Candy and I have become more discerning in the 620 00:29:34,000 --> 00:29:37,960 things that we purchased at Gen. Con and we in fact, we commented 621 00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:39,600 when we looked at our hall, our Gen. 622 00:29:39,600 --> 00:29:42,880 Con hall of games, the stack of games that we got for free 623 00:29:42,880 --> 00:29:44,880 versus the stack of games we purchased. 624 00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,160 The free games were more we didn't, we didn't spend as much, 625 00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:50,240 which brings me to my next point. 626 00:29:50,440 --> 00:29:53,520 So I have very strong opinions about Gen. 627 00:29:53,520 --> 00:29:57,480 Con halls and the photographs that people share on social 628 00:29:57,480 --> 00:29:59,680 media. Now everyone's free to do 629 00:29:59,680 --> 00:30:02,320 whatever they want. This is simply an opinion. 630 00:30:02,360 --> 00:30:04,760 I'm not a big fan of the photographs of Gen. 631 00:30:04,760 --> 00:30:07,000 Con halls. See I always post my con halls 632 00:30:07,000 --> 00:30:10,760 and I just. I don't, I I do not because 633 00:30:10,880 --> 00:30:13,000 here's the thing, at the end of the day, this is what you're 634 00:30:13,000 --> 00:30:14,760 doing. Look at all the things I bought 635 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:18,240 that you didn't get to buy because you didn't go like, OK, 636 00:30:18,440 --> 00:30:22,720 I'm trying to I'm trying to reduce the amount of FOMO when I 637 00:30:22,720 --> 00:30:26,960 go to a con and I publish shorts on YouTube, do these episodes. 638 00:30:26,960 --> 00:30:31,600 It's not to say make you feel bad that you missed out on the 639 00:30:31,600 --> 00:30:34,800 opportunity, but to merely share with you and let you get a 640 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:37,600 feeling as if you were there and get kind of an idea of what to 641 00:30:37,600 --> 00:30:39,400 expect if you do go in the future. 642 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,160 Now the other, the other side of that is when you see those Gen. 643 00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:47,800 Con halls, they're not all games purchased by said content 644 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,480 creator who has taken that picture. 645 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:53,560 For example, half of my games were given to me free by 646 00:30:53,560 --> 00:30:57,200 designers and publishers, and I know that to be true of many 647 00:30:57,200 --> 00:30:59,360 content creators who post their Gen. 648 00:30:59,360 --> 00:31:01,560 Con halls. And most of them are putting 649 00:31:01,760 --> 00:31:04,160 some games or promotional games, Yeah. 650 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:06,720 But I'm just, I'm not even necessarily saying from a 651 00:31:06,720 --> 00:31:10,120 content creator standpoint, just like general person of the board 652 00:31:10,120 --> 00:31:12,200 game group on Facebook, Facebook, hey, look what I 653 00:31:12,200 --> 00:31:13,720 bought. This is what I'm excited about. 654 00:31:13,760 --> 00:31:17,920 Yeah. I think that the reason for 655 00:31:17,920 --> 00:31:21,800 doing that for sharing your Gen. Con holes or more to the point, 656 00:31:21,960 --> 00:31:24,160 why you go, because I think that was the end of the part of your 657 00:31:24,160 --> 00:31:26,960 question, right, is like why even go if you can buy it at 658 00:31:26,960 --> 00:31:29,160 retail? I think that that question is 659 00:31:29,160 --> 00:31:31,400 easy. It's the people, right? 660 00:31:31,720 --> 00:31:34,600 Absolutely. We how many times do I have this 661 00:31:34,600 --> 00:31:38,160 conversation and everyone always talks about the people. 662 00:31:38,160 --> 00:31:42,760 That is always the story that is up front and personal with 663 00:31:42,760 --> 00:31:44,520 everyone I talked to. Why do we go to Origins? 664 00:31:44,520 --> 00:31:47,320 Why do we go to Geek Way? I mean, yes, it's the games that 665 00:31:47,320 --> 00:31:50,280 bring us to the table, but it's seeing each other, right? 666 00:31:50,520 --> 00:31:51,880 It's people that make it special. 667 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:55,000 It's it's walking the vendor hall, walking up to Pandasaurus 668 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:59,080 on a Sunday morning and seeing my beloved friend Chris teaching 669 00:31:59,080 --> 00:32:01,880 sea salt and paper to a lovely couple right there. 670 00:32:02,120 --> 00:32:05,600 And my trying not to interrupt. Well, you know. 671 00:32:06,240 --> 00:32:07,360 But you did. I got. 672 00:32:07,360 --> 00:32:09,960 Distracted, you know, and I got really hard not to. 673 00:32:09,960 --> 00:32:11,680 It's fine. But yeah. 674 00:32:11,720 --> 00:32:13,720 I think most people are understanding in that moment 675 00:32:13,720 --> 00:32:14,080 though. I. 676 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:16,600 Think you're right, sometimes they're not, you know, cuz 677 00:32:16,800 --> 00:32:18,680 emotions run high. I mean, especially when you get 678 00:32:18,680 --> 00:32:20,000 to the end of the day at event hall. 679 00:32:20,240 --> 00:32:23,960 But yeah, so I mean, you know, post your Gen. hall, your Gen. 680 00:32:23,960 --> 00:32:26,880 con hall or don't. Either way, I don't. 681 00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:29,680 And that's why what I'll do is if there was a game that I 682 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,680 picked up, whether it was given to me complimentary or I 683 00:32:32,680 --> 00:32:36,160 purchase it myself, that really stands out, I will take a 684 00:32:36,160 --> 00:32:40,320 picture of it and share it because I'm excited about this 685 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:42,320 game. I want you to know about the 686 00:32:42,320 --> 00:32:44,920 game. But just to tickle because I did 687 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,600 it to my first few Gen. cons. Oh, I got to put everything on 688 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,880 the table, make it look pretty, take my picture, look at all the 689 00:32:50,880 --> 00:32:52,800 things I bought. And after I did that, I was 690 00:32:52,800 --> 00:32:56,440 like, why am I doing that? Sure. 691 00:32:56,640 --> 00:32:58,120 We don't do that for anything else. 692 00:32:58,280 --> 00:33:01,040 I don't go to make groceries and take a picture of me and go 693 00:33:01,040 --> 00:33:01,720 Chris. We should. 694 00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:04,440 We should start doing that. Yeah, we should start doing 695 00:33:04,440 --> 00:33:05,760 that. You're you're, you're. 696 00:33:07,680 --> 00:33:09,800 Yeah, no, that's interesting though. 697 00:33:09,800 --> 00:33:11,640 I hadn't thought about the FOMO side of it. 698 00:33:11,800 --> 00:33:14,880 And I, I would like to think most people's motives aren't, 699 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,080 hey, look at me. I think there may be a level of, 700 00:33:18,080 --> 00:33:21,800 hey, look at how what I got and how much I got and how cool it 701 00:33:21,800 --> 00:33:25,120 is, which can induce some FOMO in people. 702 00:33:25,120 --> 00:33:27,600 I think, you know, the, the questions and conversations I 703 00:33:27,600 --> 00:33:30,840 saw more were interesting and, and it's more of like a month. 704 00:33:30,840 --> 00:33:33,960 Like why go there and spend all that money in one weekend when 705 00:33:33,960 --> 00:33:36,120 you can just go buy it in a store in a month or two when it 706 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:37,160 releases? And that's true. 707 00:33:37,640 --> 00:33:40,280 And that's, that's an interesting push and pull that 708 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:43,400 I've thought of. Now for me, some of the games I 709 00:33:43,400 --> 00:33:45,760 wanted I can't get in a store, right. 710 00:33:45,760 --> 00:33:47,360 You can't get the galactic Cruise bundle. 711 00:33:47,480 --> 00:33:49,920 I know you lucked out and you got galactic cruise at your 712 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:51,440 store. I've never seen it in a store. 713 00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:54,360 But it wasn't the bundle, right? It was just the retail, but 714 00:33:54,400 --> 00:33:55,960 I've. Never even seen the game and 715 00:33:55,960 --> 00:33:56,400 stuff. OK. 716 00:33:56,960 --> 00:33:59,360 Sure. And so I think for some people 717 00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:05,400 that don't have as easy access to an FLGS or a big FLGS that 718 00:34:05,400 --> 00:34:09,040 stocks all the cool, hot big stuff, you know, like that's 719 00:34:09,280 --> 00:34:10,679 true. Some stores are stocking all the 720 00:34:10,679 --> 00:34:13,000 nemesis stuff. Most aren't, you know. 721 00:34:13,000 --> 00:34:16,080 And so if you don't have access to that, a lot of comments I saw 722 00:34:16,080 --> 00:34:18,280 were interesting because they talked about how you can meet 723 00:34:18,280 --> 00:34:21,320 the designers and the artists and the publishers and there's a 724 00:34:21,320 --> 00:34:24,480 relational transaction as you're buying the game that you don't 725 00:34:24,480 --> 00:34:27,600 get now, sure, you can get that with Bobby at your local game 726 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:29,320 store if you built a relationship with them, and 727 00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:31,120 that's not a bad thing, but you're still going to check them 728 00:34:31,120 --> 00:34:33,320 out. But you know, I was able to get 729 00:34:33,400 --> 00:34:36,320 get Danielle and and Steven to sign my rule book for Tricky 730 00:34:36,320 --> 00:34:38,760 Kids because I was super excited about their game. 731 00:34:39,679 --> 00:34:41,440 I've made friends with some other designers. 732 00:34:41,440 --> 00:34:44,719 I got to see Darryl Andrews and hug his neck and he's crushing 733 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:46,880 it right now with several. Games coming out and. 734 00:34:47,040 --> 00:34:50,480 You know, so there's the relational transaction along 735 00:34:50,480 --> 00:34:54,239 with the game purchase of seeing the designers or the artists and 736 00:34:54,239 --> 00:34:57,520 the publisher and getting to put faces with names of games that 737 00:34:57,520 --> 00:34:59,400 you like. And absolutely. 738 00:34:59,400 --> 00:35:02,680 And I think. You don't, you don't get that 739 00:35:02,840 --> 00:35:05,680 outside of a con like this, and even more so at Gen. 740 00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:09,080 Con and Origins. That's one big comparison is #1 741 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:12,240 there's so many more publishers and #2 there's so many more 742 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:14,880 designers and artists at Gen. Con, just because that's the 743 00:35:14,880 --> 00:35:17,360 nature of it being four times the size. 744 00:35:17,360 --> 00:35:18,440 Absolutely. Yeah. 745 00:35:18,520 --> 00:35:20,440 No, that's totally correct. Absolutely. 746 00:35:20,440 --> 00:35:23,200 I agree with that. And that's to my point, right, 747 00:35:23,200 --> 00:35:24,320 is why do you go to Gen. Con? 748 00:35:24,320 --> 00:35:25,400 Why do you go to these conventions? 749 00:35:25,400 --> 00:35:26,920 The people. The people, right. 750 00:35:27,160 --> 00:35:29,600 Yeah, it's definitely people. I want to talk about an 751 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,680 experience that I had because you had mentioned working a 752 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:36,240 booth. OK, so I was, I think it was 753 00:35:36,240 --> 00:35:38,120 Saturday. The day is irrelevant. 754 00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,240 I was walking through vendor hall, bumped into a friend and 755 00:35:41,240 --> 00:35:43,680 she's like, what are you doing? I was like, I was about to go to 756 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:46,560 Pegasus Spiel's booth and check them out. 757 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:48,840 I know that I have a few of their games on my shelf. 758 00:35:49,080 --> 00:35:50,840 I wanted to see what they had available. 759 00:35:51,240 --> 00:35:54,280 And that's the thing too, Pegasus Spiel is not, it's not a 760 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:58,440 brand that is carried in a lot of local game stores. 761 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:00,920 So you you either got to order online or you could pick it up 762 00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:02,080 right there. You can touch it. 763 00:36:02,080 --> 00:36:03,360 That's the other thing about Jamie Connors. 764 00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,960 You the game, kind of hold it and go, oh, yeah, I want this. 765 00:36:06,960 --> 00:36:09,360 So I looked at their, I was looking at their shelf and I 766 00:36:09,360 --> 00:36:12,440 realized I have more of their games than I realized. 767 00:36:13,000 --> 00:36:15,600 Yeah, absolutely. There was nothing they didn't 768 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:17,560 have anything that I didn't already own. 769 00:36:17,640 --> 00:36:19,080 And so I was just looking around. 770 00:36:19,200 --> 00:36:22,480 And so one of the employees and this is he's a guy that works 771 00:36:22,480 --> 00:36:25,560 for Pegasus feel he came up to me and he's like, he's like, 772 00:36:25,560 --> 00:36:27,560 yeah, what are you guys doing? You know, what are you can we 773 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:28,920 show you anything? I was like, no, we're just 774 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:30,440 looking around. I was, you know, we were 775 00:36:30,440 --> 00:36:33,880 chatting and he's like, hey, do me a favor, tell me a story. 776 00:36:33,880 --> 00:36:35,360 The coolest thing you've seen at Gen. 777 00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:37,840 Con today. And I was like, OK, He's like, 778 00:36:37,880 --> 00:36:39,880 because, because every year at Gen. 779 00:36:39,880 --> 00:36:43,600 Con I work the booth. So the only thing I I see is the 780 00:36:43,600 --> 00:36:47,600 four corners of my booth and the wall right across from me. 781 00:36:47,720 --> 00:36:50,200 You can understand this is someone working the Venter Hall 782 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:52,080 floor. You don't get to see a lot, 783 00:36:52,320 --> 00:36:53,160 right? Sure. 784 00:36:53,160 --> 00:36:54,920 And Gen. Con's got a lot going on. 785 00:36:54,960 --> 00:36:57,360 And so I told him a story. I told him exactly what he 786 00:36:57,360 --> 00:37:00,280 wanted to hear and I'll share with you right now. 787 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:03,640 I had an amazing play test session, I think it was on 788 00:37:03,640 --> 00:37:06,240 Friday morning. I play tested this game called 789 00:37:06,240 --> 00:37:09,360 Forever Soup. It is a cooperative. 790 00:37:09,560 --> 00:37:14,000 It is a cooperative campaign card game that is in development 791 00:37:14,000 --> 00:37:19,120 by 4 undergraduate students at Bradley University in Peoria, 792 00:37:19,120 --> 00:37:21,240 IL. This is part of their senior 793 00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:24,600 project and they were play testing their game. 794 00:37:24,680 --> 00:37:28,280 This thing, this was, it blew me away, including the three other 795 00:37:28,280 --> 00:37:30,880 players who were with me. We were like, this game is so 796 00:37:30,880 --> 00:37:32,360 credible. It took us by storm. 797 00:37:32,560 --> 00:37:35,600 And the fact that it's being designed by undergraduates as 798 00:37:35,600 --> 00:37:38,160 part of their undergraduate degree. 799 00:37:38,400 --> 00:37:41,920 And this is the coursework. So I told I told them all about 800 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:47,280 it and we started talking about, you know, community and board 801 00:37:47,280 --> 00:37:51,040 game designers and where just everything like that. 802 00:37:51,040 --> 00:37:55,200 And so his name is Anton Torres. I hope that he listens to this 803 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:58,240 because I'm emailed him and I can't wait to hear back from 804 00:37:58,240 --> 00:37:59,800 him. So Anton, if you're listening to 805 00:37:59,800 --> 00:38:02,920 this episode, reach out to me. I want to get you on the show. 806 00:38:03,640 --> 00:38:05,800 It was just this incredible. No, I'm loaded. 807 00:38:05,800 --> 00:38:07,560 I've got business cards like crazy. 808 00:38:07,800 --> 00:38:11,280 I know I'm ready to go. I'm ready to mention everybody 809 00:38:11,280 --> 00:38:13,440 if I can. But yeah, it was just really 810 00:38:13,440 --> 00:38:16,960 cool experience and it was a great moment where I connected 811 00:38:16,960 --> 00:38:20,320 with him, he connected with me. It was just, it was a great 812 00:38:20,320 --> 00:38:22,040 moment. And you can't do that anywhere. 813 00:38:22,080 --> 00:38:23,280 Else. You can't. 814 00:38:24,040 --> 00:38:27,320 You just you can't. So that's why you go to Gen. 815 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:29,160 Con. It's for the moments, it's for 816 00:38:29,160 --> 00:38:31,800 the memories, it's for the stories and it's for the play 817 00:38:31,800 --> 00:38:36,480 testing, which I did a lot of. See, that's a weird thing for us 818 00:38:36,480 --> 00:38:40,720 is like we hardly left the hall. We got there, we went to the 819 00:38:40,720 --> 00:38:44,360 booth, we perused the hall, and then we had some friends that we 820 00:38:44,360 --> 00:38:47,920 met up with just about every night and we they were working 821 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:50,880 for Thunderworks in their event space in Hall D. 822 00:38:51,000 --> 00:38:53,120 And so. Basically, when they were done, 823 00:38:53,120 --> 00:38:55,800 they just plopped down on an empty table and saved a spot for 824 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:57,520 us. And so we went from the main 825 00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:01,040 hall through the end into Hall D, and then we left and went 826 00:39:01,040 --> 00:39:03,080 home. Like we didn't see anything else 827 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:07,400 the entire time, which I mean is crazy because there's just so 828 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,800 much to do. So much and I don't. 829 00:39:09,800 --> 00:39:11,640 Feel like we barely scratched the surface. 830 00:39:12,120 --> 00:39:16,120 And you're just talking about the halls in the Convention 831 00:39:16,120 --> 00:39:17,880 Center. We you didn't. 832 00:39:17,880 --> 00:39:19,800 You didn't get to go. We never made it out of the 833 00:39:19,800 --> 00:39:20,800 Convention Center. Nope. 834 00:39:21,920 --> 00:39:25,320 Yeah, the JW for open gaming, which I did a lot of that. 835 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:29,280 Now, the last time we did make it to the Marriott and met up 836 00:39:29,480 --> 00:39:33,520 two nights with some friends and one of the ballrooms there, but 837 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:35,960 that was about the only time we left the hall that year. 838 00:39:36,000 --> 00:39:38,560 And so there's just but that's The thing is there's just so 839 00:39:38,560 --> 00:39:42,160 much to do and see in so many spaces and you're there for I 840 00:39:42,160 --> 00:39:44,440 mean, we were there for five days because we helped with set 841 00:39:44,440 --> 00:39:47,440 up and I don't feel like we saw anything outside the exhibitor 842 00:39:47,440 --> 00:39:49,520 hall. You know, it's crazy. 843 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:52,400 And that's the. That's why I had that moment 844 00:39:52,400 --> 00:39:54,560 with Anton, because he doesn't get to see much of it. 845 00:39:54,680 --> 00:39:56,400 Yeah. I do think too, one of the 846 00:39:56,400 --> 00:39:58,520 things with people talking about why do you go and buy all the 847 00:39:58,520 --> 00:40:00,080 things? There's a, there's a couple cool 848 00:40:00,080 --> 00:40:03,960 things I think is #1 there's a lot of free promos handed out 849 00:40:03,960 --> 00:40:05,200 with games. That's true. 850 00:40:05,360 --> 00:40:06,400 You're not. You're not going to get 851 00:40:06,400 --> 00:40:07,640 elsewhere. That's true. 852 00:40:07,640 --> 00:40:11,040 Unless you order it from their website or you know, somebody 853 00:40:11,040 --> 00:40:12,160 gives it to you. Yep. 854 00:40:12,160 --> 00:40:15,360 So that was cool getting some, getting some free promos with 855 00:40:15,360 --> 00:40:17,600 some of the stuff was neat and sales. 856 00:40:17,640 --> 00:40:22,840 So most games aren't any cheaper than you'll get them at a store. 857 00:40:23,240 --> 00:40:24,800 Most games. That is true. 858 00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:27,840 But there were a couple of booths 125th century. 859 00:40:27,840 --> 00:40:29,560 I want to shout out Chad because he's somebody. 860 00:40:29,680 --> 00:40:31,880 I love that dude. I don't know if you know Chad I. 861 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,920 Don't know Chad, I don't know anyone from 25th century. 862 00:40:34,920 --> 00:40:38,400 You need to know Chad because he's just a genuinely nice dude, 863 00:40:38,520 --> 00:40:44,000 but he always has two or three games that he puts on sale and 864 00:40:44,000 --> 00:40:47,520 we got a copy of Agueta. I don't know if you've ever seen 865 00:40:47,520 --> 00:40:49,560 Agueta. I've seen it, never played it. 866 00:40:49,840 --> 00:40:52,480 Yeah, it's a beautiful game. He had a copy of the deluxe 867 00:40:52,480 --> 00:40:55,160 edition. He had it in Origins for 30. 868 00:40:55,320 --> 00:40:58,200 And I think. It's 45 or 50 full price, OK, 869 00:40:58,440 --> 00:41:01,960 But it sold out before I got it, so we made it a point they want 870 00:41:01,960 --> 00:41:06,280 to go see if he still had it. The component quality of that 871 00:41:06,280 --> 00:41:09,400 deluxe edition for $30 is just stupid. 872 00:41:09,400 --> 00:41:12,920 I mean he has, he has no business selling that game with 873 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:15,080 those components for that cheap in my opinion. 874 00:41:15,600 --> 00:41:18,720 I don't know. And the other booth was Borden 875 00:41:18,720 --> 00:41:19,880 Dice. I don't know. 876 00:41:20,040 --> 00:41:21,800 I don't know that we've talked about Borden dice, you and I 877 00:41:21,800 --> 00:41:24,720 much, but they've become I see you got Barcelona right behind. 878 00:41:24,720 --> 00:41:28,400 You, yes. Which I do to somewhere right 879 00:41:28,400 --> 00:41:29,400 behind me. You do. 880 00:41:31,640 --> 00:41:33,840 They've become one of my favorite publishers and I wanted 881 00:41:33,840 --> 00:41:36,120 to go. I had a question for them that's 882 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:38,680 a long story and I won't get into, but I also wanted to check 883 00:41:38,680 --> 00:41:42,760 out Tianchia, which is the new T game that originally they 884 00:41:42,760 --> 00:41:44,800 weren't going to have. And then they got their shipment 885 00:41:44,800 --> 00:41:47,880 in just in time and so I wanted to go take a look at it. 886 00:41:47,880 --> 00:41:52,680 Well, when we got there, they had anything else they had stock 887 00:41:52,680 --> 00:41:55,720 of in their US warehouse was at most $20. 888 00:41:55,880 --> 00:41:59,960 We're talking Tequenu for 15, Founders of Teotihuacan for 889 00:41:59,960 --> 00:42:03,920 five, they had, Terracotta Army for 10 or 15 they had. 890 00:42:04,120 --> 00:42:06,720 I'm bummed the Reef project was sold out by the time we got 891 00:42:06,720 --> 00:42:12,680 there, but I think it was $10. I mean just insane prices on 892 00:42:12,680 --> 00:42:17,920 $60.00 games that. Are at most. $1520 And so I 893 00:42:17,920 --> 00:42:21,480 don't know why they were doing it, but I mean they were, they 894 00:42:21,480 --> 00:42:24,080 were offloading them and I'm pretty sure that whole stack was 895 00:42:24,080 --> 00:42:26,960 gone in two or three days. Yes, I believe that. 896 00:42:27,160 --> 00:42:29,800 Absolutely. But we ended up getting Tiancha 897 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:32,720 and I ended up, I'd been wanting to canoe for a while, 898 00:42:32,720 --> 00:42:35,040 technically wanted in a giveaway, but I got the wrong 899 00:42:35,040 --> 00:42:37,280 game, which is why I was talking to him about it. 900 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:39,840 I couldn't work it out. But Caitlin was just like, it's 901 00:42:39,840 --> 00:42:42,360 $15, just buy it. And I was like, is it really? 902 00:42:42,360 --> 00:42:45,040 And that's when I saw the sign. And then I was like, well, I've 903 00:42:45,040 --> 00:42:46,800 heard good things about founders of Teo. 904 00:42:46,800 --> 00:42:49,000 So for five bucks it's worth a get. 905 00:42:49,080 --> 00:42:51,440 Play it one time. If we don't like it, pass it on. 906 00:42:51,440 --> 00:42:54,000 Exactly. So those are a couple of the 907 00:42:54,000 --> 00:42:57,520 cool things or the sales, the discounts and some free promos 908 00:42:57,560 --> 00:42:59,640 aside from the relational aspect. 909 00:42:59,640 --> 00:43:02,160 No, absolutely. And I want to, I want to go back 910 00:43:02,160 --> 00:43:04,280 to that because I had another experience. 911 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:07,000 So why do you go to Gencot on Thursday? 912 00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:08,640 Katie and I are walking the hall. 913 00:43:08,640 --> 00:43:13,120 We knew we wanted to stop at Brooks Fun Games and they made 914 00:43:13,120 --> 00:43:15,480 Legacies. So Katie, Katie and I had the 915 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:17,760 retail version. We did not get the big fancy 916 00:43:18,040 --> 00:43:20,000 deluxe version and we wanted to see. 917 00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:21,240 If they had, I don't know if I've seen this. 918 00:43:21,240 --> 00:43:22,440 I'm going to look it up while you're talking. 919 00:43:22,680 --> 00:43:25,240 You look it up at Brooks Fun Games, the designers, Jason, 920 00:43:25,240 --> 00:43:28,000 Brooks, Jason, shout out to you. So we went to the booth. 921 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:31,120 We were looking for upgraded components for legacies. 922 00:43:31,240 --> 00:43:33,400 We didn't know what they had available, but we were 923 00:43:33,400 --> 00:43:35,480 interested and they had it. They had a few things. 924 00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:38,920 They had a beautiful neoprene mat with the nighttime alternate 925 00:43:38,920 --> 00:43:41,080 art. And so we bought the neoprene 926 00:43:41,080 --> 00:43:44,720 mat and we just had a really good time chatting with a 927 00:43:44,720 --> 00:43:47,680 different Jason at the booth. Got to talking to him and he's 928 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:50,800 like, well, do you want to see? And I mentioned it in the intro, 929 00:43:51,160 --> 00:43:53,800 He's like, would you like, would you be interested in seeing 930 00:43:53,800 --> 00:43:55,880 Clandestine? And we're like, yeah, sure, go 931 00:43:55,880 --> 00:43:57,840 ahead. And so he gave us the, you know, 932 00:43:57,840 --> 00:44:02,080 the 10,000 foot view of Clandestine where you are in 933 00:44:02,080 --> 00:44:07,080 charge of a secret society and like Victorian England and the 934 00:44:07,080 --> 00:44:11,720 way that the game is got a modular build based on the 935 00:44:11,720 --> 00:44:14,080 number of players. Now it was set for three 936 00:44:14,080 --> 00:44:16,600 players. When Katie and I get one of 937 00:44:16,600 --> 00:44:19,120 these high level kind of, it's not even a demo. 938 00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:21,160 It's just kind of an explanation of the game. 939 00:44:21,360 --> 00:44:25,320 We always ask this question, how does it play at two players? 940 00:44:25,360 --> 00:44:29,000 And he's like, it plays well. It does this and that. 941 00:44:29,280 --> 00:44:32,440 So I gave him my business card, told him about the podcast, was 942 00:44:32,440 --> 00:44:34,680 really interested in talking about it some more. 943 00:44:34,760 --> 00:44:39,760 And he said, would you like to get a one-on-one teach by Jason 944 00:44:39,760 --> 00:44:42,440 Brooks, the designer of the game at two players? 945 00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:44,400 And I'm like. Yes, yes. 946 00:44:45,000 --> 00:44:47,360 OK, this. Do you want to know why you go 947 00:44:47,360 --> 00:44:48,000 to Gen. Con? 948 00:44:48,120 --> 00:44:49,520 This is why you go to Gen. Con, Yeah? 949 00:44:49,840 --> 00:44:52,720 Absolutely. So on Saturday I went back to 950 00:44:52,720 --> 00:44:54,880 the booth at the preordained time. 951 00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:58,720 That's right. The time was preordained and I 952 00:44:58,720 --> 00:45:02,840 got to meet Jason Brooks and he taught me Clandestine and it was 953 00:45:02,840 --> 00:45:05,720 just at two players because that's what I was interested in. 954 00:45:05,720 --> 00:45:10,240 This game is incredible, guys. It's on pre-order right now. 955 00:45:10,240 --> 00:45:14,120 It's already been fully funded. He's doing some late pledges. 956 00:45:14,120 --> 00:45:17,240 Check out Clandestine. It's incredible. 957 00:45:17,400 --> 00:45:22,160 There will not be there will not be a retail version. 958 00:45:22,280 --> 00:45:26,280 There's only this deluxe version, so got to check that 959 00:45:26,280 --> 00:45:27,360 out. Clandestine. 960 00:45:27,560 --> 00:45:29,680 It was great. So I got to play the 2 with the 961 00:45:29,680 --> 00:45:31,440 designer. Hopefully he's going to come on 962 00:45:31,440 --> 00:45:34,120 the show and talk about it and talk about his journey, which is 963 00:45:34,120 --> 00:45:35,520 amazing. Yeah. 964 00:45:35,880 --> 00:45:37,240 That's why you go to Gen. Con. 965 00:45:37,320 --> 00:45:39,120 That's why you go for things like that. 966 00:45:39,320 --> 00:45:43,840 I can't go to Titan Games and play Sagrada and expect Adrian 967 00:45:43,840 --> 00:45:45,480 to be there and be like, yeah, let me show it to you. 968 00:45:46,040 --> 00:45:47,280 That's not. Yeah, yeah. 969 00:45:47,680 --> 00:45:49,680 That's that's cool. That's a really cool thing. 970 00:45:49,880 --> 00:45:50,800 Yeah. I'm trying to think. 971 00:45:50,920 --> 00:45:53,960 We had, I don't guess we got to outside of just, you know, 972 00:45:53,960 --> 00:45:56,920 regular demos and stuff. We didn't have a super cool 973 00:45:56,960 --> 00:45:59,240 moment like you, but you're just so much cooler than me. 974 00:45:59,320 --> 00:46:01,320 Y'all don't listen to him. So what? 975 00:46:01,320 --> 00:46:04,880 What game did you bring home that you were just like, this is 976 00:46:05,600 --> 00:46:07,680 awesome. It's just, you know. 977 00:46:07,720 --> 00:46:11,000 So that was that was Caitlin and I's conversation. 978 00:46:11,040 --> 00:46:14,520 Part of the car ride is you know what of what that we got? 979 00:46:14,520 --> 00:46:17,160 Are you the most excited about? And she immediately said 980 00:46:17,160 --> 00:46:20,680 Galactic Cruise, which we talked about this on the last podcast. 981 00:46:20,680 --> 00:46:22,280 I was tempted to buy the origins. 982 00:46:22,560 --> 00:46:25,040 I needed her to play it to justify the money. 983 00:46:25,040 --> 00:46:27,760 Well, we borrowed a copy, played it at three players. 984 00:46:28,160 --> 00:46:30,640 She loved it. We played it the next night at 985 00:46:30,640 --> 00:46:34,080 two players to see so she could experience the two player 986 00:46:34,080 --> 00:46:35,400 variant. It's good. 987 00:46:35,400 --> 00:46:37,600 And she was like, we've got to get this. 988 00:46:37,680 --> 00:46:42,280 And so I wasn't sold on the all in bundle, but when I got there, 989 00:46:42,280 --> 00:46:44,680 I was like, well, I want the expansions at that point, you 990 00:46:44,680 --> 00:46:46,760 might as well get the bundle because you got to have the 991 00:46:46,760 --> 00:46:49,560 upgraded bits. And at that point getting the 992 00:46:49,560 --> 00:46:52,160 play mat and the sleeves were like 15 more dollars. 993 00:46:52,160 --> 00:46:54,880 So which I know you're feeling on the play mat, you don't like 994 00:46:54,880 --> 00:46:57,320 the sleeves. Well, that makes I I don't 995 00:46:57,320 --> 00:47:01,920 sleeve as intensely as I used to, but I still games like that 996 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:06,720 that are high dollar and I play with my kids and I've got a 997 00:47:07,720 --> 00:47:09,920 protect the games. So I know Caitlin's number one 998 00:47:09,920 --> 00:47:12,360 without hesitation was galactic cruise, and I think I'm with her 999 00:47:12,360 --> 00:47:14,880 on that just because we both really liked it and I think 1000 00:47:14,880 --> 00:47:16,520 that's one we're going to enjoy together. 1001 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:20,760 I think the one that I was the most excited to get was probably 1002 00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:25,000 Tiantia, just because I really have enjoyed board and dice 1003 00:47:25,000 --> 00:47:28,680 stuff, the T game series. Yep, and so I'm really excited 1004 00:47:28,680 --> 00:47:30,520 to try that one. It looks incredible. 1005 00:47:30,520 --> 00:47:32,400 The artwork is better than some of them. 1006 00:47:32,400 --> 00:47:33,880 Some of them are very drab looking. 1007 00:47:35,960 --> 00:47:39,040 The artwork is pretty good and it's a little bit different of a 1008 00:47:39,040 --> 00:47:42,600 setting and it it's less of a dice game and more of a worker 1009 00:47:42,600 --> 00:47:45,800 placement game and there's a kind of a semi cooperative 1010 00:47:45,800 --> 00:47:49,480 element where you're trying to build the walls to protect the 1011 00:47:49,480 --> 00:47:51,600 lands from attack. I don't know the full details of 1012 00:47:51,600 --> 00:47:53,920 the setting and everything there, but I was talking to some 1013 00:47:53,920 --> 00:47:56,040 people that were demoing it and he was kind of telling me he's 1014 00:47:56,040 --> 00:47:59,320 like, you know, you, you're either going to hurt together or 1015 00:47:59,320 --> 00:48:00,720 you're going to feel Better Together. 1016 00:48:00,960 --> 00:48:03,640 You're still competing, It's still fully competitive, but as 1017 00:48:03,640 --> 00:48:06,840 far as like, if you don't build the walls in the right spots, 1018 00:48:06,880 --> 00:48:10,280 everybody's going to be hurting. So that sounds like an 1019 00:48:10,280 --> 00:48:12,560 interesting thing. And so I'm really excited about 1020 00:48:12,560 --> 00:48:14,360 that. And one of the other ones I was 1021 00:48:14,360 --> 00:48:15,640 excited to get. I don't know if you've played 1022 00:48:15,640 --> 00:48:18,680 Spectacular I. Have not not have gotten this. 1023 00:48:18,680 --> 00:48:24,080 Game is fantastic and we played it last night with James, who 1024 00:48:24,080 --> 00:48:25,680 you met a little bit ago before we started recording. 1025 00:48:26,200 --> 00:48:29,920 It was one that I played at BGG Spring with Kyle and we both 1026 00:48:29,920 --> 00:48:32,800 loved it and I knew Caitlin would like it. 1027 00:48:32,800 --> 00:48:34,600 We walked by, kind of showed it to her. 1028 00:48:34,760 --> 00:48:37,760 Didn't really feel like spending the money on it that day. 1029 00:48:37,760 --> 00:48:40,080 Well, we happened to walk back by their booth on Sunday and 1030 00:48:40,080 --> 00:48:43,040 they had it marked $10 off and I was like, I can't pass that up. 1031 00:48:43,360 --> 00:48:45,200 Nice. We got it. 1032 00:48:45,840 --> 00:48:48,000 There were two games. I think you kind of asked what 1033 00:48:48,000 --> 00:48:51,080 I'm bummed I missed on. There were two games that I kind 1034 00:48:51,080 --> 00:48:55,840 of wanted to get. We got to play Kalamala Saturday 1035 00:48:55,840 --> 00:48:59,120 night. Yeah, and it was fantastic. 1036 00:48:59,120 --> 00:49:02,480 We both really liked it. So I made it a point to bust it 1037 00:49:02,480 --> 00:49:05,080 over to their booth Sunday after our shift to see if they still 1038 00:49:05,080 --> 00:49:06,000 had it. They did. 1039 00:49:06,240 --> 00:49:08,840 It was just a little bit more than what I wanted to spend at 1040 00:49:08,840 --> 00:49:09,960 the time. Sure. 1041 00:49:10,240 --> 00:49:13,240 After spending more than I intended to throughout the 1042 00:49:13,240 --> 00:49:14,960 weekend. It happens to the best. 1043 00:49:14,960 --> 00:49:17,400 And in the car ride home, Caitlin was just like, I 1044 00:49:17,400 --> 00:49:18,440 shouldn't have talked to you out of it. 1045 00:49:18,440 --> 00:49:21,160 We should have just got it. And I was like, well, it is what 1046 00:49:21,160 --> 00:49:23,280 it is. But that was a really good game. 1047 00:49:23,400 --> 00:49:27,400 Ruins from All Play was another one that I had high up on my 1048 00:49:27,400 --> 00:49:30,600 list because of how popular it was at Origins and how many 1049 00:49:30,600 --> 00:49:32,120 friends I know that really liked it. 1050 00:49:32,200 --> 00:49:33,520 Right. Well, we went to the all play 1051 00:49:33,520 --> 00:49:37,400 booth day one to demo it and all their demo staff was busy, but 1052 00:49:37,400 --> 00:49:39,760 there were a couple other guys at the Ruins table looking at it 1053 00:49:39,760 --> 00:49:41,160 and one of them said I got a quick demo. 1054 00:49:41,160 --> 00:49:43,640 This I got a quick this morning. I could probably teach it. 1055 00:49:43,680 --> 00:49:46,760 If anybody ever says that at a convention, maybe don't trust 1056 00:49:46,760 --> 00:49:49,160 them. I say that some people would be 1057 00:49:49,160 --> 00:49:51,680 fine. Some people are, so you never 1058 00:49:51,680 --> 00:49:52,600 know. It's true. 1059 00:49:52,960 --> 00:49:56,520 He didn't teach it super clearly and accurately. 1060 00:49:56,680 --> 00:49:59,680 And so we didn't really get a good feel, and we just kind of 1061 00:49:59,680 --> 00:50:02,320 clunked through one round. And I don't think anybody knew 1062 00:50:02,320 --> 00:50:05,320 what was going on. And as a result, Caitlin was 1063 00:50:05,320 --> 00:50:08,840 just kind of like, OK, well, all weekend long I kept saying, hey, 1064 00:50:08,840 --> 00:50:09,960 do you want to go look at that again? 1065 00:50:09,960 --> 00:50:12,600 Hey, do we want to grab that? And every time, like, yeah, I 1066 00:50:12,600 --> 00:50:15,320 don't know, we're in the car ride on the way home and she's 1067 00:50:15,320 --> 00:50:18,400 just like, you know, I really was interested in that game. 1068 00:50:18,400 --> 00:50:21,480 I was like, are you kidding me? I asked you like 10 times 1069 00:50:21,680 --> 00:50:24,360 throughout the weekend. And every time you're like, no, 1070 00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,880 I think I'm OK. So Ruins, Ruins is living rent 1071 00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:29,760 free in your head, right? Yeah, yeah. 1072 00:50:29,840 --> 00:50:32,200 That was, that was just kind of a funny one that I had to give 1073 00:50:32,200 --> 00:50:33,800 her a hard time about. I was like, I asked you about 1074 00:50:33,800 --> 00:50:36,960 that so many times and you didn't seem interested at all. 1075 00:50:37,080 --> 00:50:39,120 And now you're like, why didn't we just buy it? 1076 00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:41,360 And then there was one. There was one I heard about 1077 00:50:41,360 --> 00:50:44,160 Sunday. OK, my last demos called 1078 00:50:44,240 --> 00:50:46,480 Ofrenda. Themed around on this. 1079 00:50:46,720 --> 00:50:48,880 Themed around Dio de Los Muertos. 1080 00:50:49,000 --> 00:50:52,960 OK, I've got a really good game in the same setting. 1081 00:50:53,400 --> 00:50:56,840 We'll put it out out anyway. So we were going to try to make 1082 00:50:56,840 --> 00:51:00,760 it over to the booth. Osprey, Osprey games, they were 1083 00:51:00,760 --> 00:51:02,320 one that I didn't make it to their booth. 1084 00:51:02,520 --> 00:51:04,000 It was on the clear other end of the hall. 1085 00:51:04,160 --> 00:51:07,040 We were going to try to make it over there to look at it because 1086 00:51:07,040 --> 00:51:09,400 it sounds like something that would really hit, especially for 1087 00:51:09,400 --> 00:51:13,240 Caitlin, but also for myself. And the whole game is about like 1088 00:51:13,320 --> 00:51:17,120 organizing your Dio de Los Muertos altar area. 1089 00:51:17,720 --> 00:51:20,360 I don't know the correct lingo. I'm not trying to, you know, get 1090 00:51:20,360 --> 00:51:23,040 it wrong, but that's the theme of the game as you're trying to 1091 00:51:23,040 --> 00:51:28,120 lay out your family stuff and your altar around that holiday. 1092 00:51:28,200 --> 00:51:30,080 And so it just sounded really cool. 1093 00:51:30,080 --> 00:51:32,200 And unfortunately we didn't make it over there. 1094 00:51:32,200 --> 00:51:34,880 So that's one that I'm going to keep on my list to check out at 1095 00:51:34,880 --> 00:51:37,320 some point in the future because it sounded, the way they 1096 00:51:37,320 --> 00:51:39,680 explained it, it sounded like a fantastic game. 1097 00:51:39,760 --> 00:51:42,280 If you want something that's a little bit smaller, easier to 1098 00:51:42,280 --> 00:51:45,440 travel and that is accessible, that's Potsquaro. 1099 00:51:45,640 --> 00:51:48,880 But weird Giraffe Games, we picked that up last year. 1100 00:51:49,080 --> 00:51:51,520 It's the same thing, but it's like cards and you're building 1101 00:51:51,520 --> 00:51:52,800 the altar. Potsquaro. 1102 00:51:52,800 --> 00:51:53,760 Yeah. OK. 1103 00:51:53,920 --> 00:51:57,960 So it's funny you brought up all play game that blew our minds 1104 00:51:57,960 --> 00:51:59,720 and is living rent free in my head. 1105 00:51:59,920 --> 00:52:02,440 We didn't we didn't buy it. We could have. 1106 00:52:02,520 --> 00:52:05,920 We had the opportunity at all play and we didn't. 1107 00:52:06,120 --> 00:52:08,560 And that's Twinkle, Twinkle really. 1108 00:52:08,560 --> 00:52:12,480 We got a chance to play it Sunday night with our friend 1109 00:52:12,480 --> 00:52:17,080 Angel at the end of the night and we were like, this is good. 1110 00:52:17,320 --> 00:52:20,120 Like it's always a challenge when everyone's like hyping up a 1111 00:52:20,120 --> 00:52:21,440 game. Is it really? 1112 00:52:21,440 --> 00:52:22,720 Worth it? Is it really is good? 1113 00:52:22,800 --> 00:52:24,000 Yeah. Yes. 1114 00:52:24,600 --> 00:52:28,680 Usually not, but. Twinkle, Twinkle is. 1115 00:52:28,720 --> 00:52:33,120 Really interesting. It is so strategic, so simple in 1116 00:52:33,120 --> 00:52:34,920 its theme. You're just, you know, it's, Oh 1117 00:52:34,920 --> 00:52:40,520 my gosh, the acrylic tiles that place on your player board. 1118 00:52:40,800 --> 00:52:43,200 And that's not a deluxe version. It's. 1119 00:52:43,200 --> 00:52:46,680 They look great. It's really fantastic and I'm 1120 00:52:46,680 --> 00:52:49,160 like, man, we need to get a copy of that and it's living here. 1121 00:52:50,040 --> 00:52:52,920 Yeah, we, we looked at it when we were at the booth that day 1122 00:52:53,000 --> 00:52:54,800 and it looked really cool. Yep. 1123 00:52:55,040 --> 00:52:58,040 But we didn't play it. Yeah, it's probably one that we 1124 00:52:58,040 --> 00:52:59,640 would enjoy, but we. Just would you? 1125 00:52:59,760 --> 00:53:01,360 Know Caleb was ready to move on so. 1126 00:53:01,360 --> 00:53:03,600 You absolutely would, but there it is. 1127 00:53:03,960 --> 00:53:09,000 Was there a game for you that was at a booth? 1128 00:53:09,080 --> 00:53:11,880 But it's not come out yet, has not been released? 1129 00:53:12,120 --> 00:53:16,760 Like something you're looking forward to maybe next year and 1130 00:53:16,760 --> 00:53:19,200 maybe you didn't see many of those because there weren't a 1131 00:53:19,280 --> 00:53:20,440 lot. There were a few. 1132 00:53:20,840 --> 00:53:25,160 Think Luthier's One. I think it's kind of delivering 1133 00:53:25,160 --> 00:53:27,200 on Kickstarter and it was available to buy. 1134 00:53:27,520 --> 00:53:30,800 Yep. That game looks amazing but holy 1135 00:53:30,800 --> 00:53:32,840 cow is it expensive. Yeah, it's. 1136 00:53:33,160 --> 00:53:34,040 Jeez. And Pete? 1137 00:53:34,040 --> 00:53:39,840 'S it's a monster. That's one that I I want to get. 1138 00:53:39,880 --> 00:53:42,120 I want to get to play it at some point. 1139 00:53:42,400 --> 00:53:45,400 OK. Just come. 1140 00:53:45,560 --> 00:53:49,040 Just come visit us again because luthier should be arriving soon, 1141 00:53:49,840 --> 00:53:51,760 OK? Because we backed it last year. 1142 00:53:52,480 --> 00:53:55,120 Yeah, no, I don't. I don't think there's anything 1143 00:53:55,120 --> 00:53:57,520 that I played that's not coming out yet. 1144 00:53:57,600 --> 00:54:02,600 So there's there's one, there's one on my list that's Arctica. 1145 00:54:04,160 --> 00:54:08,800 It's it's made by play deep and Explore Horizons. 1146 00:54:08,800 --> 00:54:12,760 These are the guys who did ice. Ice was one that I wanted to 1147 00:54:12,760 --> 00:54:16,160 check out but didn't get to it. Well, I didn't really give much 1148 00:54:16,160 --> 00:54:19,640 thought to ICE, but we were walking the vendor hall Sunday 1149 00:54:19,960 --> 00:54:24,840 and they had Arctica set up. Oh my God, Chris, this game is 1150 00:54:24,840 --> 00:54:27,520 beautiful. It is a heavy hero. 1151 00:54:27,520 --> 00:54:31,280 And if Adam from Tabletop Vibes is listening, one of the things 1152 00:54:31,280 --> 00:54:33,760 we talked about when we did our back-to-back episode earlier 1153 00:54:33,760 --> 00:54:38,640 this year was circular boards. The boards about this one maybe? 1154 00:54:38,640 --> 00:54:39,520 I don't know. That's it. 1155 00:54:39,520 --> 00:54:41,640 But you don't even know, OK? That is it, yes. 1156 00:54:42,200 --> 00:54:45,040 I that cover looks great, there's no other pictures. 1157 00:54:45,520 --> 00:54:48,160 No. So the board is circle, and it's 1158 00:54:48,160 --> 00:54:51,800 from a bird's eye view of the Earth over the North Pole, so 1159 00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:54,520 that the Arctic Circle is the centerpiece. 1160 00:54:54,800 --> 00:54:56,880 And so you can see the continents. 1161 00:54:57,080 --> 00:54:59,920 You can see a little bit of Canada and Greenland and Russia 1162 00:54:59,920 --> 00:55:02,400 and whatnot. And there are events, and when 1163 00:55:02,400 --> 00:55:05,280 those events take place, they're environmental events. 1164 00:55:05,280 --> 00:55:08,000 It's all about preserving the environment of the Arctic 1165 00:55:08,000 --> 00:55:11,080 Circle. Tiles will show up and it will 1166 00:55:11,080 --> 00:55:14,920 change the landscape of the continents just outside the 1167 00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:17,440 Arctic Circle. The game is gorgeous. 1168 00:55:17,440 --> 00:55:21,400 The components are amazing. Samson Peret is the CEO. 1169 00:55:21,400 --> 00:55:23,280 He's from, I think he's from Sweden. 1170 00:55:23,280 --> 00:55:25,640 I probably shouldn't say too much because I don't want to be 1171 00:55:25,640 --> 00:55:27,560 wrong because I'm hoping to have him on the show. 1172 00:55:27,560 --> 00:55:30,960 And if I if I say things wrong, he may not come on. 1173 00:55:31,120 --> 00:55:32,800 Yeah. Look, it looks cool. 1174 00:55:32,880 --> 00:55:37,240 It's coming out in 2026. It looks fantastic. 1175 00:55:37,440 --> 00:55:40,800 All the components are made from sustainable materials. 1176 00:55:41,160 --> 00:55:45,040 Compressed wood for the wood components, recycled cardboard. 1177 00:55:45,200 --> 00:55:48,400 Just magic. Be on the lookout for that next 1178 00:55:48,400 --> 00:55:52,200 Year in 26 Article I. Thought of two. 1179 00:55:52,360 --> 00:55:56,000 Yes, lay it on me. So 1 is hanami. 1180 00:55:56,040 --> 00:55:59,320 Yep, that. Is launching on Kickstarter in 1181 00:55:59,320 --> 00:56:05,280 September from Keymaster and that is the reskin slash update 1182 00:56:05,480 --> 00:56:10,240 of Kanetia's samurai right. That is the theme is great. 1183 00:56:10,240 --> 00:56:12,560 Jen from key master was kind of telling me about it. 1184 00:56:12,560 --> 00:56:16,680 She's like the whole theme is staking out your picnic spots, 1185 00:56:16,880 --> 00:56:20,840 which apparently can be a really ruthless thing in Japan. 1186 00:56:20,920 --> 00:56:25,400 And like there are families that hire people to wait until the 1187 00:56:25,400 --> 00:56:28,640 time to go grab the picnic spot. Like it's just this whole like, 1188 00:56:28,680 --> 00:56:30,840 you know, weird cultural thing over there that doesn't make 1189 00:56:30,840 --> 00:56:33,400 sense to us. But but it looks like if you've 1190 00:56:33,400 --> 00:56:36,560 ever seen her played Samurai. I remembered in enjoying it but 1191 00:56:36,560 --> 00:56:39,400 I didn't understand it the one time I played it and I got my 1192 00:56:39,400 --> 00:56:41,320 butt kicked. That sounds about. 1193 00:56:41,320 --> 00:56:43,400 Right. But it's, you know, kind of 1194 00:56:43,400 --> 00:56:46,560 blandish. But this board is just gorgeous, 1195 00:56:46,560 --> 00:56:49,960 with lots of purples and Blues and flowers, and it looks very 1196 00:56:49,960 --> 00:56:52,240 peaceful and serene. But from what they were saying, 1197 00:56:52,240 --> 00:56:55,480 it's still got a lot of that cutthroat gameplay of samurai. 1198 00:56:55,480 --> 00:56:56,880 So I'm really interested in that. 1199 00:56:57,000 --> 00:57:01,440 And then the second one is, if you're a classic slasher movie 1200 00:57:01,640 --> 00:57:06,520 fan like myself, there's a game out there that you can't find 1201 00:57:06,720 --> 00:57:08,080 unless you want to pay a lot of money for it. 1202 00:57:08,440 --> 00:57:12,720 It's called Camp Grizzly, and you can find it for about four 1203 00:57:12,720 --> 00:57:16,000 or $500 on eBay from time to time. 1204 00:57:16,120 --> 00:57:19,920 But Trick or Treat Studios got the rights to it earlier this 1205 00:57:19,920 --> 00:57:23,040 year, last year, they announced it within the last year, but 1206 00:57:23,040 --> 00:57:26,160 they've got a new addition coming to Kickstarter, I think 1207 00:57:26,160 --> 00:57:28,120 this coming week, I think it's this. 1208 00:57:28,160 --> 00:57:29,560 It's either this Tuesday or next Tuesday. 1209 00:57:29,800 --> 00:57:33,120 OK. And so similar gameplay, 1210 00:57:33,120 --> 00:57:35,800 updated, tweaked some rules, updated some of the components. 1211 00:57:36,120 --> 00:57:38,840 Now, the interesting thing is, is this was a game that was high 1212 00:57:38,840 --> 00:57:42,200 on my list to try at some point, but you can't find it anywhere 1213 00:57:42,320 --> 00:57:45,520 because it's been out of print for years, and people are 1214 00:57:45,520 --> 00:57:47,800 sniping it up as soon as they can when it's available. 1215 00:57:47,800 --> 00:57:52,360 But I got to play it last year at Nerdfest in Detroit, which is 1216 00:57:52,360 --> 00:57:53,800 the trip that I hung out with you guys on. 1217 00:57:53,800 --> 00:57:56,880 Yeah. And is it the greatest game 1218 00:57:56,880 --> 00:57:58,520 ever? Absolutely not. 1219 00:57:58,520 --> 00:58:02,600 But if you love, you know, Friday the 13th Halloween, those 1220 00:58:02,600 --> 00:58:05,840 classic slasher movies where you're fighting for your life 1221 00:58:05,840 --> 00:58:09,360 and running from, you know, mass crazed maniac and in the woods 1222 00:58:09,360 --> 00:58:13,360 and trying to survive. It was like we just had so much 1223 00:58:13,360 --> 00:58:16,080 fun with it. And if you've never played it, 1224 00:58:16,080 --> 00:58:17,840 check out the Kickstarter. If you have played it and you've 1225 00:58:17,840 --> 00:58:20,320 been looking for a copy, your chances coming up. 1226 00:58:20,320 --> 00:58:24,040 It's about to be available so make sure you jump on and and 1227 00:58:24,720 --> 00:58:27,400 support Trick or Treat Studios, which we ended up buying a game 1228 00:58:27,400 --> 00:58:29,160 from them too. While we were at the booth, we 1229 00:58:29,160 --> 00:58:31,080 got Immortal. I don't know if you've. 1230 00:58:31,080 --> 00:58:32,320 Seen this, have you? I have not. 1231 00:58:32,760 --> 00:58:34,760 Have you ever played Querkel or Rummy Cube? 1232 00:58:34,960 --> 00:58:37,800 Yes. So this is a weird love child of 1233 00:58:37,840 --> 00:58:42,160 those two games mashed together where you're decorating A 1234 00:58:42,160 --> 00:58:45,760 graveyard with flowers. So the board is a graveyard and 1235 00:58:45,760 --> 00:58:48,960 you're putting flower pieces on it to decorate the graveyard. 1236 00:58:49,000 --> 00:58:53,080 OK, but you're placing them in groups of either the same color, 1237 00:58:53,160 --> 00:58:56,720 consecutive numbers, or different colors, same number, 1238 00:58:57,160 --> 00:58:58,920 and you have to place at least three tiles. 1239 00:58:59,440 --> 00:59:02,440 But then before at the medium return, you can rearrange. 1240 00:59:02,520 --> 00:59:05,040 So kind of like Rummy Cube where you can break and move things 1241 00:59:05,040 --> 00:59:07,400 around, right? But then like Quirkle, you're 1242 00:59:07,400 --> 00:59:11,720 building out a pattern of same but different, you know? 1243 00:59:11,720 --> 00:59:14,960 So it's kind of those two games kind of mashed into one with a 1244 00:59:15,080 --> 00:59:19,800 kind of fun macabre theme, which if you can't, we really enjoy. 1245 00:59:19,920 --> 00:59:23,920 Sure. So one last question to wrap up 1246 00:59:23,920 --> 00:59:26,040 here. It's kind of tied to why go to 1247 00:59:26,040 --> 00:59:26,680 Gen. Con? 1248 00:59:26,880 --> 00:59:29,960 What would you say about if people were wondering about 1249 00:59:30,120 --> 00:59:33,880 trying to get on with a publisher to do what you did and 1250 00:59:34,040 --> 00:59:36,280 work the vendor hall? Do you believe it's a good 1251 00:59:36,280 --> 00:59:37,440 opportunity? Is it worth it? 1252 00:59:37,640 --> 00:59:39,920 Should people consider it? Is it too much? 1253 00:59:39,920 --> 00:59:42,280 What do you think? I think that is entirely up to 1254 00:59:42,320 --> 00:59:45,320 the individual. OK, Caitlin and I have decided 1255 00:59:45,320 --> 00:59:49,280 that we love doing it. We really enjoy teaching the 1256 00:59:49,280 --> 00:59:51,960 games. On the financial side of things, 1257 00:59:51,960 --> 00:59:55,000 for us, we couldn't have afforded to go to Gym Con, but 1258 00:59:55,000 --> 00:59:58,200 getting the free badge, getting some hourly pay, the hourly pay 1259 00:59:58,200 --> 00:59:59,680 will basically cover our hotel room. 1260 00:59:59,960 --> 01:00:02,880 There you go. Now, we stayed about 25 minutes 1261 01:00:02,880 --> 01:00:05,640 out of downtown to get a cheap room, but part of that was 1262 01:00:05,640 --> 01:00:10,560 because we waited so late, too. But you know, helps cover travel 1263 01:00:10,560 --> 01:00:12,960 cost, right? Which is a huge deal. 1264 01:00:13,040 --> 01:00:15,080 And the free badge is nice because Gen. 1265 01:00:15,080 --> 01:00:18,560 Con badges aren't cheap. I don't know, it's like 150 or 1266 01:00:18,560 --> 01:00:19,920 something like that for the weekend. 1267 01:00:19,920 --> 01:00:23,240 So, you know, for two of us, that's $300 that we didn't have 1268 01:00:23,240 --> 01:00:24,640 to pay. And getting the free games is 1269 01:00:24,640 --> 01:00:26,600 nice. On the relational side of 1270 01:00:26,600 --> 01:00:28,120 things. It makes it easy to see people 1271 01:00:28,120 --> 01:00:30,240 because you say, hey, this is where I'm going to be, come by 1272 01:00:30,240 --> 01:00:32,160 and say hi. And most people do. 1273 01:00:32,160 --> 01:00:35,000 As far as the time commitment, that's where it's up to the 1274 01:00:35,000 --> 01:00:37,600 individual because all of those things are everybody wouldn't, 1275 01:00:37,600 --> 01:00:41,840 nobody would argue with money and free badges and the 1276 01:00:41,840 --> 01:00:46,000 relational aspect, free games. The time commitment is a push 1277 01:00:46,000 --> 01:00:48,000 and pull, right? Like I mentioned, last time it 1278 01:00:48,000 --> 01:00:51,440 was great because we worked 8:00 to noon, ate lunch, and then had 1279 01:00:51,440 --> 01:00:54,080 five or six hours in the hall. This time we didn't have that 1280 01:00:54,080 --> 01:00:56,160 because they didn't have the event space, so our time in the 1281 01:00:56,160 --> 01:00:58,680 hall was limited. It felt a little more rushed, a 1282 01:00:58,680 --> 01:01:01,120 little more frantic than last time. 1283 01:01:01,120 --> 01:01:03,640 I feel like we just casually perused the hall every day. 1284 01:01:03,760 --> 01:01:06,840 And so that's the tough part. You know, if you're willing to 1285 01:01:06,840 --> 01:01:10,560 spend the four hours a day and miss out on some things to get 1286 01:01:10,560 --> 01:01:13,680 all the perks right, then it's totally worth it. 1287 01:01:14,000 --> 01:01:16,600 There you go. I think for us, we've decided 1288 01:01:16,600 --> 01:01:19,920 it's worth it, but I can't say that it's worth it for everybody 1289 01:01:19,920 --> 01:01:21,640 because it's just, you know, it's up to you. 1290 01:01:21,920 --> 01:01:24,160 Origins was the same way. That's the only reason Kyle and 1291 01:01:24,160 --> 01:01:26,520 I went to Origins is because I got invited to work with Bite 1292 01:01:26,560 --> 01:01:29,760 Wing. So it makes the experience 1293 01:01:29,840 --> 01:01:32,880 accessible and affordable. Yes, absolutely. 1294 01:01:32,880 --> 01:01:34,080 So there you go. Yeah. 1295 01:01:35,280 --> 01:01:38,120 But well, it is it does come with a sacrifice, so. 1296 01:01:38,120 --> 01:01:41,480 It does, absolutely, but I appreciate you taking the time. 1297 01:01:41,480 --> 01:01:44,240 Thanks for joining me once again to do this guys. 1298 01:01:44,640 --> 01:01:46,400 Gen. Con is a wrap. 1299 01:01:46,440 --> 01:01:49,360 Origins is done. I think only thing left the big 1300 01:01:49,360 --> 01:01:52,120 convention in the US is PAX U. Pax U. 1301 01:01:52,480 --> 01:01:56,040 We do have Essence Spiel in Germany in October. 1302 01:01:56,040 --> 01:02:00,120 There might be some coverage from our long lost friend 1303 01:02:00,120 --> 01:02:02,320 Gareth, who's going for the first time. 1304 01:02:02,320 --> 01:02:04,280 So there, we'll we'll see about that. 1305 01:02:04,280 --> 01:02:06,960 That'll be exciting. And we've got some great things 1306 01:02:06,960 --> 01:02:09,480 on the pipeline. So I managed to get 7 1307 01:02:09,480 --> 01:02:11,800 commitments on the show while it was a Gen. 1308 01:02:11,800 --> 01:02:15,640 Con, 25 leads of people who expressed interest that I had to 1309 01:02:15,640 --> 01:02:17,040 follow up with. Yeah. 1310 01:02:17,040 --> 01:02:19,840 And I gave out almost 500 business cards while a Gen. 1311 01:02:19,840 --> 01:02:21,320 Con so. Awesome. 1312 01:02:21,560 --> 01:02:23,720 It was, it was great. It was a great day for the 1313 01:02:23,720 --> 01:02:27,080 podcast. Got to create new relationships, 1314 01:02:27,080 --> 01:02:29,520 nurture some old ones. This is why you go to Gen. 1315 01:02:29,520 --> 01:02:31,480 Con. So absolutely, it's all about 1316 01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:34,160 the people. So be kind to one another and 1317 01:02:34,320 --> 01:02:35,600 remember to play more games.