1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:04,080 Hey, and welcome to episode 115, Maple to Maple. 2 00:00:04,080 --> 00:00:09,720 Today I am joined by Tai from at Tai ET on Instagram, a creator 3 00:00:09,720 --> 00:00:13,040 who brings together board games, good vibes, and thoughtful 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,320 conversations about what it really means to be a part of 5 00:00:17,320 --> 00:00:19,320 this hobby. We're going to dig into his 6 00:00:19,920 --> 00:00:24,680 board gaming journey, how he connects with the wider board 7 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:29,440 gaming community, and why creating a welcoming, inclusive 8 00:00:29,440 --> 00:00:35,160 environment at the table matters as much as what's in the box. 9 00:00:35,640 --> 00:00:38,480 So join me guys. Ty, how are you? 10 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:41,160 Doing really well. Thank you for the intro. 11 00:00:41,160 --> 00:00:42,920 I should clip that out and send it to my mom. 12 00:00:46,160 --> 00:00:49,600 Absolutely let your mom know what a great person, what a 13 00:00:49,600 --> 00:00:52,240 great job you're doing. Well, thank you so much. 14 00:00:52,520 --> 00:00:54,680 Yeah, glad to be here. I'm just, I know I'm really 15 00:00:54,680 --> 00:00:56,840 excited to talk to you. We've been we've been kind of 16 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,960 friends and chatting for you. It's been, has it been a couple 17 00:00:58,960 --> 00:01:00,600 of years now that you and I have been? 18 00:01:00,840 --> 00:01:02,760 For a while. But I feel like we've been 19 00:01:02,760 --> 00:01:04,080 following each other for a while. 20 00:01:04,080 --> 00:01:06,280 Yeah, yeah. But I think I might be the other 21 00:01:06,280 --> 00:01:09,320 first person to beg to be on your podcast, right? 22 00:01:10,120 --> 00:01:14,200 There was just a hint of desperation and begging. 23 00:01:14,200 --> 00:01:15,920 Just a tad. Well, that's just goes to say 24 00:01:15,920 --> 00:01:18,160 like how much I love this podcast and the the Creator 25 00:01:18,160 --> 00:01:19,640 series. Well, thank. 26 00:01:19,640 --> 00:01:22,360 You you did something so a really special here. 27 00:01:22,840 --> 00:01:25,840 Thank you, thank you. I really hope that that that 28 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,280 kind of comes out and people really embrace what we're trying 29 00:01:29,280 --> 00:01:31,680 to do here. I, I also have to be honest, 30 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:35,560 this content creator series is a bit of if if you watched, I did 31 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:40,080 like a 4 minute little short to kind of introduce the content 32 00:01:40,080 --> 00:01:43,280 creator series. This is all like a giant apology 33 00:01:43,280 --> 00:01:46,680 for all the sins of my past because I've made enough 34 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:49,560 mistakes. And it's, you know, we want to, 35 00:01:49,560 --> 00:01:52,760 we want to build that inclusive community, you know, charges at 36 00:01:52,760 --> 00:01:56,080 the tabletop, but in the, you know, in the wider world, right? 37 00:01:56,080 --> 00:01:59,200 Especially now more than ever. Yeah, absolutely. 38 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:04,040 And, and you kind of embody that inclusivity I feel in your posts 39 00:02:04,040 --> 00:02:07,440 and things that you advocate for on your platform. 40 00:02:07,440 --> 00:02:09,600 So. Yeah, I mean, I hope so. 41 00:02:09,680 --> 00:02:13,760 I try not to be political all that much on this platform, 42 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,400 right? I think this hobby is a form of 43 00:02:16,520 --> 00:02:21,760 a escapism, so I think adding mixing some political statements 44 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:24,640 is not quite right and what I'm trying to do. 45 00:02:25,440 --> 00:02:29,600 OK, Yeah, I mean, that's definitely fair. 46 00:02:29,600 --> 00:02:32,760 This is this is obviously been a topic that we've all been 47 00:02:32,760 --> 00:02:37,040 talking about a lot lately and we're not going to we're not 48 00:02:37,040 --> 00:02:39,880 going to dive into the the politics of everything, but it's 49 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:41,560 definitely a topic that's come up. 50 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:46,720 I can't help but think to myself that at the core of politics, 51 00:02:47,000 --> 00:02:49,960 right And I, I don't mean left or right Republican, I don't 52 00:02:49,960 --> 00:02:52,600 mean any of that. The core of politics is people. 53 00:02:52,600 --> 00:02:57,000 And we're a community of people. So the very fact that we're 54 00:02:57,000 --> 00:03:03,280 together sharing a passion for a hobby is political in nature. 55 00:03:04,600 --> 00:03:09,440 And I, I sometimes, I sometimes fear that people think that or 56 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:13,120 they forget, but there's a person behind all these 57 00:03:13,120 --> 00:03:17,800 accounts, you know, and, and, and sometimes, you know, we 58 00:03:17,800 --> 00:03:23,000 just, we, we see injustices or our passions just to overtake 59 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,680 us, whatever the situation is. And there's, there's a lot to 60 00:03:26,680 --> 00:03:30,360 say right now about our environment and I think 61 00:03:30,360 --> 00:03:34,800 everyone's dealing with it in their own ways, you know? 62 00:03:34,920 --> 00:03:38,240 So, yeah, I understand what you say that it's definitely a, a 63 00:03:38,240 --> 00:03:41,120 hobby of escapism, you know, I, I get that. 64 00:03:41,120 --> 00:03:43,280 But at the same time, it's people. 65 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:47,200 So it's political. So yeah, that's yeah. 66 00:03:47,880 --> 00:03:52,560 Yeah, exactly. So enough about that. 67 00:03:53,320 --> 00:03:56,120 You know, we'll dive in that on a on another day. 68 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:58,080 That's a that's a definitely a longer discussion. 69 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:03,240 So I wanted to, I wanted to ask you what was I've asked everyone 70 00:04:03,240 --> 00:04:06,480 else, what was the first game that got you into this hobby? 71 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:10,080 I believe a Long story short, it's probably Scythe. 72 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:15,160 Scythe. Yeah, just like everyone, I got 73 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:17,440 into the hobby with Katan and Carcassonne. 74 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:21,200 But right after Carcassonne, I somehow stumbled upon Scythe and 75 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,000 the cover of Scythe. Oh man, that that cover just 76 00:04:24,120 --> 00:04:27,240 struck me. The the, the juxtaposition of 77 00:04:27,240 --> 00:04:31,560 the Mex and the other farmers, the use of the, the metaphor of 78 00:04:31,560 --> 00:04:36,360 the worst scythe as a tool of destruction and agriculture. 79 00:04:37,560 --> 00:04:42,960 But something about that cover that just forced me to dig in 80 00:04:42,960 --> 00:04:46,120 further and further. And then I just had to grab a 81 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:48,440 copy. And once I did that, I struggle 82 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:51,440 with the rule book because I've never played anything like this 83 00:04:51,440 --> 00:04:52,720 before. Right? 84 00:04:52,720 --> 00:04:58,520 Carcasson was literally the first game that I played, so I 85 00:04:58,520 --> 00:05:01,440 was like just reading Rubo. I even downloaded the other 86 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,200 digital copy on Steam, trying to maybe if I, you know, press 87 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,760 these buttons, figure out how to play. 88 00:05:07,840 --> 00:05:11,120 Like that didn't work. And then I stumbled upon this 89 00:05:12,280 --> 00:05:16,440 Canadian dude from PEI who was out doing tutorials on YouTube, 90 00:05:17,120 --> 00:05:20,960 and I watched his video and finally got to learn it and play 91 00:05:20,960 --> 00:05:23,760 it. And yeah, that was how I got 92 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:26,200 into this whole thing, the whole big mess. 93 00:05:26,760 --> 00:05:32,560 Wow, So you go from Carcassonne to Scythe that that's wow, that 94 00:05:32,560 --> 00:05:36,200 that's a journey right there in and of itself, man. 95 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:40,840 I will say Scythe was Scythe was our first foray. 96 00:05:41,080 --> 00:05:44,800 And by our, I mean my wife and I first foray into Stonemyer's 97 00:05:44,800 --> 00:05:47,120 games. My wife typically doesn't 98 00:05:47,440 --> 00:05:50,040 gravitate towards war games, right? 99 00:05:50,040 --> 00:05:54,240 Axis and Allies, Fortress America area control games, 100 00:05:54,240 --> 00:05:57,440 those are not really her cup of tea. 101 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:02,000 And Scythe, if you just look at scythe on a table, if you're not 102 00:06:02,000 --> 00:06:05,200 playing the game, I'm sure you know this and recognize it as 103 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:07,400 well. It looks like a war game because 104 00:06:07,400 --> 00:06:11,320 it's got Max and it's a big board and there's all this stuff 105 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:12,960 going on. But we played it. 106 00:06:13,280 --> 00:06:16,560 A friend of ours owned it. He got five of us at the table. 107 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:19,120 He was not one of the five this is this was interesting 108 00:06:19,120 --> 00:06:21,760 experience. He was not one of the five that 109 00:06:21,760 --> 00:06:24,840 was playing. He just taught it to the five of 110 00:06:24,840 --> 00:06:27,600 us and was there to field questions. 111 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:30,520 And I was like, this game is incredible. 112 00:06:30,520 --> 00:06:34,000 And then my wife fell in love with it, the whole experience. 113 00:06:34,320 --> 00:06:37,960 So we had to buy a copy and all the expansions and the big 114 00:06:37,960 --> 00:06:40,960 insert and the legendary box and everything. 115 00:06:40,960 --> 00:06:43,840 Like, yeah. You went all in. 116 00:06:44,520 --> 00:06:48,080 Yeah, yeah. Whenever my wife says we have to 117 00:06:48,080 --> 00:06:50,480 do a thing, we have to do a thing. 118 00:06:51,080 --> 00:06:55,840 And also Scythe was the the game that got me into painting minis. 119 00:06:55,840 --> 00:06:57,880 Like I don't know anything about minis. 120 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:00,960 And I had a close friend who has been to like Warhammer. 121 00:07:01,240 --> 00:07:05,000 And then I brought the box over and he showed me how to prime, 122 00:07:05,000 --> 00:07:09,200 how to, what paint to use. And my wife got into painting 123 00:07:09,200 --> 00:07:13,200 minis as well, but he hasn't, she hasn't really touched the 124 00:07:13,200 --> 00:07:16,520 brush afterwards. So yeah, we didn't really get 125 00:07:16,520 --> 00:07:21,400 into any of the expansions except the Fendris, but we 126 00:07:21,400 --> 00:07:25,680 upgraded the heck out of that game and then I even built my 127 00:07:25,680 --> 00:07:28,720 own insert with. Wow, nice. 128 00:07:28,720 --> 00:07:31,160 Basswood. Yes. 129 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:35,600 Yeah, so I went to a local arts and crafts store, bought some 130 00:07:35,720 --> 00:07:39,360 basswood and cut them up and wow, it was a it was a whole 131 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:40,800 different thing. Wow. 132 00:07:41,000 --> 00:07:42,800 I don't know you could buy inserts at the time. 133 00:07:43,360 --> 00:07:45,960 Right. Do you have, so do you have a 134 00:07:45,960 --> 00:07:50,200 favorite faction that you really enjoy playing or do you just 135 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:51,480 randomize it throughout? Oh. 136 00:07:51,720 --> 00:07:54,160 Just randomize. Yeah, it is. 137 00:07:54,200 --> 00:07:56,240 Is there? Is there one that you really 138 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,280 like above all the other? Well, you know what? 139 00:07:59,680 --> 00:08:03,640 I'll tell you something I called Zeif many years ago. 140 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,160 Yeah, I I still regret like getting rid of the game because 141 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:12,000 at the time our shelf space was very limited and my wife 142 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,040 dictated that we have this bookcase just behind me here. 143 00:08:16,480 --> 00:08:20,160 And then that's that was our limit is like whatever that gets 144 00:08:20,160 --> 00:08:22,000 filled, we can't buy anything more. 145 00:08:22,480 --> 00:08:24,480 Got it out at. The time, yeah, at the time, 146 00:08:24,480 --> 00:08:26,880 like we weren't playing sites all that much. 147 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:29,160 She wasn't really into it. She wasn't really into the other 148 00:08:29,160 --> 00:08:33,320 conflict side of site. So my role at the time was if 149 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:35,400 it's not getting played, we have to get rid of it. 150 00:08:35,400 --> 00:08:39,960 So I regret that decision, like very, very much so. 151 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,120 Even though I still love it, it wasn't getting played. 152 00:08:42,120 --> 00:08:46,840 And she's like 99% of the time she's my primary, a player that 153 00:08:46,840 --> 00:08:47,960 I play with. Sure. 154 00:08:48,200 --> 00:08:50,400 Yeah, yeah. I I didn't want any games, you 155 00:08:50,400 --> 00:08:52,120 know, collecting dust on my shelves, right? 156 00:08:52,800 --> 00:08:54,720 No, I, I get that. I definitely get that. 157 00:08:55,160 --> 00:08:57,720 Well, it just means that you're going to have to come and visit 158 00:08:57,720 --> 00:09:00,320 and spend a weekend and we can play Scythe or you know. 159 00:09:00,360 --> 00:09:02,480 Well, all the videos are painted. 160 00:09:02,880 --> 00:09:04,600 Oh, they're painted. Oh, yeah. 161 00:09:05,120 --> 00:09:08,760 Oh, they're painted. We had my wife and I got into 162 00:09:08,960 --> 00:09:11,800 painting. We started painting the Star 163 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:17,960 Wars Imperial Assault minis. This was back in 2018-2019. 164 00:09:18,760 --> 00:09:22,640 But then the during the pandemic, it gave us a lot of 165 00:09:22,640 --> 00:09:26,640 time to we had, we had other miniatures, including scythe. 166 00:09:27,120 --> 00:09:30,680 And so we painted those we have and the airships that was 167 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:34,080 really, those were challenging because it's easy. 168 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,160 You take the airship and you're like the Roose fiats, right? 169 00:09:37,160 --> 00:09:40,160 So it's red, you paint it all red, but then you got to get all 170 00:09:40,160 --> 00:09:45,400 the little rivets and you get that with that silver dry man. 171 00:09:45,720 --> 00:09:50,040 Those were challenging to paint, but we had a lot of fun with 172 00:09:50,040 --> 00:09:54,920 like the snow, the textured paints, right, like the snow and 173 00:09:54,920 --> 00:10:00,560 the the water. It really opened our world to 174 00:10:00,560 --> 00:10:03,400 the different types of paints that exists. 175 00:10:03,400 --> 00:10:06,440 So yes, when you come and stay for the weekend and we play 176 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,440 sight, everything will be painted. 177 00:10:08,760 --> 00:10:14,680 No worries. So so OK, no favorite faction? 178 00:10:14,680 --> 00:10:18,200 How about just in general? Do you have a favorite player 179 00:10:18,200 --> 00:10:20,720 color that you like to play in board games? 180 00:10:20,720 --> 00:10:28,840 Actually the way I choose my colors is I always think about 181 00:10:28,840 --> 00:10:31,880 how the game board looks on the table. 182 00:10:32,400 --> 00:10:38,520 OK, the player colors matter. So I try to pick colors that are 183 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:41,600 complementary to what my wife chooses. 184 00:10:41,680 --> 00:10:44,920 So it's usually purple or red or pink. 185 00:10:45,520 --> 00:10:48,520 So whatever that that complements those colors, I'll 186 00:10:48,520 --> 00:10:52,880 just pick whatever. OK, so they always look good on 187 00:10:52,880 --> 00:10:57,880 my photos basically. But there are a few aside from 188 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,760 the primary color, your old maples. 189 00:11:02,160 --> 00:11:04,720 I love colors that are pastel shades. 190 00:11:05,200 --> 00:11:08,360 OK. So like Holiday Hills just 191 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,840 behind me Dig it's got a really nice colors selection there. 192 00:11:12,600 --> 00:11:16,600 Eno Tool has really great colors through selected color palettes. 193 00:11:16,840 --> 00:11:20,160 Yes. There's a Canadian company 194 00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:23,600 called Ruse. They just had their second game 195 00:11:23,600 --> 00:11:26,680 on Kickstarter called The Mix, and they had a Fox game called 196 00:11:26,680 --> 00:11:30,120 The Ruse, and they have some beautiful, beautiful pastel 197 00:11:30,120 --> 00:11:32,320 colors. They're like shades of orange, 198 00:11:32,320 --> 00:11:35,600 emerald, even white, which is a color that I never, ever used, 199 00:11:35,600 --> 00:11:38,400 but it looks just amazing on the table. 200 00:11:39,480 --> 00:11:41,880 So no white. 'S an interesting color. 201 00:11:41,880 --> 00:11:43,720 White is an interesting color, yeah. 202 00:11:45,600 --> 00:11:48,680 It's also difficult going back to painting. 203 00:11:48,680 --> 00:11:52,400 White is a challenge to paint with I. 204 00:11:52,640 --> 00:11:56,480 I noticed that I was AI was a go ahead. 205 00:11:57,080 --> 00:12:01,600 No, I was just going to say like the the Pollyannia faction in 206 00:12:01,600 --> 00:12:05,280 Scythe is white and then going back to Star Wars, Imperial 207 00:12:05,280 --> 00:12:08,480 Assault, the stormtroopers, all the stormtroopers, right? 208 00:12:08,640 --> 00:12:12,240 They're white with a little bit of black, and you can't hide 209 00:12:12,240 --> 00:12:15,080 mistakes as easily when painting white. 210 00:12:17,000 --> 00:12:20,880 Yeah, no, I noticed that with a wall painting Assassin's Creed 211 00:12:21,200 --> 00:12:25,080 Brotherhood of Venice. Since all the Assassins are 212 00:12:25,080 --> 00:12:28,360 white, I was asking another friend like, how do you paint 213 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:30,080 white? Because I couldn't find like 214 00:12:30,080 --> 00:12:32,960 perfect shade of white, like pure white, right? 215 00:12:33,040 --> 00:12:37,440 And he was saying how the closest thing to white is like 216 00:12:37,440 --> 00:12:39,200 lighter Gray. Yeah. 217 00:12:40,000 --> 00:12:42,640 So yeah, I learned that there there is no such thing as pure 218 00:12:42,640 --> 00:12:45,800 white in mini painting. No, that's pointing. 219 00:12:46,520 --> 00:12:48,680 And it's a challenge. It's a real and. 220 00:12:48,680 --> 00:12:53,480 Especially when you do a washing afterwards, it just darkens the 221 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:58,280 color even further. So you basically end up like you 222 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:02,400 you paint the whole thing and then you put a dark wash and 223 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:05,800 then you you paint it a little bit more, but not the whole 224 00:13:05,800 --> 00:13:06,440 thing. Right. 225 00:13:06,640 --> 00:13:08,400 To create this. Yeah. 226 00:13:08,960 --> 00:13:11,320 Oh God, I don't have the patience for that. 227 00:13:11,600 --> 00:13:15,240 No, no, me neither. It's why so basically now when 228 00:13:15,240 --> 00:13:17,600 we paint, my wife does all the painting. 229 00:13:17,600 --> 00:13:20,800 I prime them so that they're ready for her and then I will 230 00:13:20,800 --> 00:13:23,560 lacquer them when she's done. But I'm not allowed to touch 231 00:13:23,560 --> 00:13:27,160 them anymore because there are so many droopy eyed 232 00:13:27,160 --> 00:13:31,520 stormtroopers in our Imperial. She's like, no, I'm like, OK, 233 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:34,480 sorry. Yeah, my my philosophy with mini 234 00:13:34,480 --> 00:13:36,200 painting is that anything is better than Gray. 235 00:13:36,200 --> 00:13:40,120 So I usually just prime it, do like a single color and just 236 00:13:40,120 --> 00:13:41,200 wash it. Yeah. 237 00:13:41,480 --> 00:13:44,720 With Kingdom Death Monster, I think I painted all the 238 00:13:44,720 --> 00:13:49,720 survivors white with washing or like prime with just highlight 239 00:13:49,880 --> 00:13:54,920 white highlights and all the the enemies copper so they look like 240 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:56,240 statues. Yeah. 241 00:13:56,240 --> 00:13:58,280 And that was it. Nice. 242 00:13:58,400 --> 00:14:00,000 I love it. That's incredible. 243 00:14:00,000 --> 00:14:05,640 Yeah. So how about you have, because I 244 00:14:05,640 --> 00:14:07,480 don't want to assume. How about do you? 245 00:14:07,480 --> 00:14:10,840 Do you have like a favorite board game mechanic that you 246 00:14:10,840 --> 00:14:15,040 just love to play? I would say engine building. 247 00:14:15,720 --> 00:14:19,920 OK, Yeah. I mean, work a placement all the 248 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:25,240 way, but I love the sensation of any building, and lately my wife 249 00:14:25,240 --> 00:14:28,720 and I are getting into a big building quite a bit. 250 00:14:29,360 --> 00:14:32,560 That was not a mechanism that we were familiar with. 251 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,400 Right. But quacks just, you know. 252 00:14:37,680 --> 00:14:40,840 Right. Like when we played, we were 253 00:14:40,840 --> 00:14:43,520 late to quacks as well. And we're like, this game is 254 00:14:43,520 --> 00:14:46,960 incredible. Why have we not played it 255 00:14:46,960 --> 00:14:47,920 sooner? You know? 256 00:14:48,040 --> 00:14:50,960 Exactly. It's it's so good and so 257 00:14:50,960 --> 00:14:54,520 satisfying, right? That tension of pulling out that 258 00:14:54,520 --> 00:14:58,400 token and hoping that you didn't, you know, your cherry 259 00:14:58,400 --> 00:15:02,120 bombs or whatever exactly didn't explode. 260 00:15:02,120 --> 00:15:04,800 So yeah. What about or Leon? 261 00:15:04,800 --> 00:15:09,040 Have you played or Leon? I right after kind of like 262 00:15:09,040 --> 00:15:12,360 brushed off Orleans earlier because of my hatred towards the 263 00:15:12,400 --> 00:15:15,120 other arts data, the German art style. 264 00:15:15,120 --> 00:15:17,920 But after Quacks I was like, what else is there? 265 00:15:18,280 --> 00:15:22,920 So I had to look into Orleans and my good Instagram friend One 266 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:26,280 Bookcase Mike. He invited me to play Orleans on 267 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:32,200 BGA and I fell in love with it. Yeah, 'cause I'm. 268 00:15:32,240 --> 00:15:35,320 Desperately looking for a copy just to have a physical version 269 00:15:35,320 --> 00:15:39,520 with my wife. Yes, it's it's my wife's number 270 00:15:39,520 --> 00:15:44,720 one favorite game of all time. She absolutely loves or Leon. 271 00:15:44,720 --> 00:15:47,000 It's like we want to, she always wants to play or Leon. 272 00:15:47,520 --> 00:15:50,080 And I think it's that bag building that she loves. 273 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:52,200 But it's also a worker placement because you're pulling your 274 00:15:52,200 --> 00:15:55,280 workers out and then you and what's great about it is you're 275 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,800 placing them on the mat in front of you. 276 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:01,720 So I'm not, I'm not taking up a worker space on the board that 277 00:16:01,720 --> 00:16:03,120 you want, right? I can't. 278 00:16:03,680 --> 00:16:07,080 Yeah. Yeah, it's it's worth checking 279 00:16:07,080 --> 00:16:09,800 out. It's a two to four player game. 280 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:13,000 So you basically have but you're you have tiles, right? 281 00:16:13,280 --> 00:16:17,560 These little tiles that you you draw from your bag and you place 282 00:16:17,560 --> 00:16:20,080 them in the garden in front of you, right? 283 00:16:20,160 --> 00:16:23,360 And it's a simultaneous, this part is simultaneous, right? 284 00:16:23,360 --> 00:16:26,880 We're we're pulling back. But you also have these tiles 285 00:16:26,880 --> 00:16:31,120 that have gnomes if you get similar to quacks with like the 286 00:16:31,120 --> 00:16:35,240 white cherry bomb tokens. If you get 5 gnomes in your 287 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:39,480 garden, they steal all of the gold or the gems that you have 288 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:44,240 created because you're lining up the tiles to match the gem 289 00:16:44,520 --> 00:16:48,720 halves on the tiles so that you can get so that you could buy 290 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:52,680 better tiles, you know, at the end, at the end of each round. 291 00:16:53,120 --> 00:16:56,800 It's very similar to quacks in that regard, but it's, it's 292 00:16:56,800 --> 00:16:59,200 worth checking out. It's very satisfying at two 293 00:16:59,200 --> 00:17:02,080 players. If, if you want, if you want to 294 00:17:02,080 --> 00:17:03,760 play more than four players, you can. 295 00:17:03,840 --> 00:17:07,400 And they say in the game, buy a second copy because it's it's a, 296 00:17:07,560 --> 00:17:11,599 it's a thin box, takes up very little table space, but it's a 297 00:17:11,599 --> 00:17:14,480 great bag builder. OK, I'm going to have to look 298 00:17:14,480 --> 00:17:16,800 into it right after. This that's that's worth 299 00:17:16,800 --> 00:17:19,800 checking out is Guardlings. Guardlings. 300 00:17:20,440 --> 00:17:24,520 So tell me what? What is it that attracted you to 301 00:17:24,599 --> 00:17:27,400 engine building that was like your first choice when I asked 302 00:17:27,400 --> 00:17:30,560 you what your favorite was? So what is it about engine 303 00:17:30,560 --> 00:17:32,480 building that really draws you? You know what? 304 00:17:32,480 --> 00:17:35,960 I'm blanking all of a sudden. What games? 305 00:17:35,960 --> 00:17:40,640 I have engine building elements in a I'm still blanking. 306 00:17:41,280 --> 00:17:44,440 Engine building is an interesting mechanic that. 307 00:17:45,280 --> 00:17:48,760 Yeah, I mean people, you start, you start really slow with 308 00:17:48,760 --> 00:17:51,760 almost no resources whatsoever, right? 309 00:17:51,760 --> 00:17:56,360 There is a point in time about halfway through, you feel like 310 00:17:56,360 --> 00:17:59,480 God. And towards the end you do feel 311 00:17:59,480 --> 00:18:02,240 like you could do everything. You could accomplish all the 312 00:18:02,240 --> 00:18:05,520 goals. But it's the game that the games 313 00:18:05,520 --> 00:18:08,000 that I love never let you do everything. 314 00:18:08,760 --> 00:18:13,880 It ends just before that point in time where I could feel like, 315 00:18:14,280 --> 00:18:16,480 like, I have like superpower, right? 316 00:18:16,600 --> 00:18:19,040 Like that's what gets me coming back to these games. 317 00:18:19,040 --> 00:18:23,560 But Oh my God, I'm so blinking. Well, here's here's one. 318 00:18:23,600 --> 00:18:27,240 People always talk about Terraforming Mars as an engine 319 00:18:27,240 --> 00:18:30,720 builder, and I don't think of it as an engine builder at all. 320 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,400 You don't really build an to my mind, you don't really build an 321 00:18:34,400 --> 00:18:35,920 engine. You play because most of the 322 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,800 cards you play, there's a one time effect. 323 00:18:39,800 --> 00:18:44,280 It increases your productivity or it gives you this resource or 324 00:18:44,280 --> 00:18:48,000 grants you victory points. There are a couple of cards that 325 00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:53,520 allow you to do more, but ultimately, yeah, I just don't 326 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:54,760 see it. Holy cow. 327 00:18:54,760 --> 00:18:59,160 As that engine builder games that kind of trigger other, 328 00:18:59,960 --> 00:19:03,160 Yeah. So the fact that you're 329 00:19:03,160 --> 00:19:07,520 blanking, the fact that you're blanking means that my next 330 00:19:07,520 --> 00:19:10,760 question is going to be a blank as well, which would be what is 331 00:19:10,760 --> 00:19:12,800 your favorite engine building game? 332 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:17,360 Yeah, holy God, I need to look at my Fiji list. 333 00:19:18,000 --> 00:19:21,880 So guys, Ty did not prepare for this. 334 00:19:22,200 --> 00:19:24,400 No, not at all. Not at all. 335 00:19:24,400 --> 00:19:26,120 Well, so do you. I want. 336 00:19:26,240 --> 00:19:28,680 So let's go back to Carcassonne, right, because it was one of 337 00:19:28,680 --> 00:19:32,040 your first games. Carcassonne is it employs my 338 00:19:32,040 --> 00:19:36,480 absolute favorite mechanic, and that's tile placement. 339 00:19:37,880 --> 00:19:42,800 Do you do you still as your game experience and tastes have 340 00:19:42,800 --> 00:19:45,960 evolved, do you still enjoy tile placement games? 341 00:19:45,960 --> 00:19:49,360 Oh yeah, somewhat, but I don't think I have many tile builders 342 00:19:49,520 --> 00:19:54,360 say I love land versus sea, but I see here. 343 00:19:54,800 --> 00:19:57,280 Yes, for sure. Yeah, the Newton. 344 00:19:57,360 --> 00:20:00,800 Newton is both engine builder and tableau builder. 345 00:20:00,920 --> 00:20:03,120 We played that today. That's a good game. 346 00:20:04,880 --> 00:20:06,520 We love it. Yeah. 347 00:20:06,520 --> 00:20:10,520 I think Newton was our first foray into the the Italian 348 00:20:10,520 --> 00:20:12,160 designers. Yes. 349 00:20:12,440 --> 00:20:16,720 And we have since amassed quite a few of their games, including 350 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:19,120 Lorenzo that we love quite a bit as. 351 00:20:19,120 --> 00:20:21,360 Well, that's what I think. Great game. 352 00:20:21,680 --> 00:20:25,040 Yeah, we still play Lorenzo because of it has such a short 353 00:20:25,120 --> 00:20:27,720 setup time. You could literally start 354 00:20:27,720 --> 00:20:29,520 playing that game within like 2 minutes. 355 00:20:29,880 --> 00:20:33,000 You really can. Yeah, there's just so little 356 00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:34,960 tiles or chips that you need to set up. 357 00:20:35,360 --> 00:20:37,440 Yep. Yeah, you could just start 358 00:20:37,440 --> 00:20:39,960 playing right away. Whereas a Newton or like 359 00:20:39,960 --> 00:20:42,920 Darwin's journey requires at least like 10 minutes of like 360 00:20:42,920 --> 00:20:45,960 setup. So that yeah, Lorenzo is a game 361 00:20:45,960 --> 00:20:50,080 that we we pull out quite a bit later since. 362 00:20:50,120 --> 00:20:53,040 And it plays well at 2:00. Exactly. 363 00:20:53,360 --> 00:20:57,840 Yeah, I also think it's funny and we've talked about the 364 00:20:57,840 --> 00:21:01,840 designer before, but Simone Luciani is just an incredible 365 00:21:01,840 --> 00:21:05,600 designer. Games are just amazing. 366 00:21:05,600 --> 00:21:08,600 I think I have like 4 or five games by Simone. 367 00:21:08,840 --> 00:21:11,160 Yeah, I think so. Yeah, you're right about 368 00:21:11,160 --> 00:21:13,640 Darwin's. Darwin's journey does take a a 369 00:21:13,640 --> 00:21:17,760 bit of time. I think Newton is pretty I I 370 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:18,840 would think I might have to disagree. 371 00:21:18,840 --> 00:21:21,040 I think Newton's setup time is pretty quick. 372 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:24,440 I think we were like 5 minutes and we were playing because you 373 00:21:24,440 --> 00:21:28,040 really only have, you only have coins, you have the potion 374 00:21:28,040 --> 00:21:31,120 tokens, You put those out, you put out the two main boards, you 375 00:21:31,120 --> 00:21:33,560 take the player board. I mean, yeah, there's a little 376 00:21:33,560 --> 00:21:36,400 bit of little bit of set up on your player board, but I. 377 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:40,160 Also love the maps like populated the maps with the 378 00:21:40,160 --> 00:21:42,960 other bonus tiles. And sure, yeah, that's true. 379 00:21:43,720 --> 00:21:45,640 I can't seem to win that game though. 380 00:21:47,840 --> 00:21:50,280 I'm always one step behind my wife. 381 00:21:51,000 --> 00:21:52,600 Always. Always. 382 00:21:53,320 --> 00:21:55,360 Do you guys always use like similar strategies? 383 00:21:56,480 --> 00:22:01,560 Not usually. OK, I I always, I always, I 384 00:22:01,560 --> 00:22:06,360 always try something different. But inevitably I'm like, I watch 385 00:22:06,360 --> 00:22:09,680 her and I'm like, I better get these books on my shelf. 386 00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:13,160 Right, right. Or I better start travelling on 387 00:22:13,160 --> 00:22:16,840 the map or. Yeah, Otherwise, you know, she's 388 00:22:16,840 --> 00:22:22,000 she's really good at that, that fast, those income tiles where 389 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:25,120 at the end of each round she gets victory points and I'm 390 00:22:25,120 --> 00:22:29,960 like, right, yeah, yeah. By round one she's ready to go 391 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:34,080 and I'm three rounds behind her. I think Newton is one of those 392 00:22:34,080 --> 00:22:37,720 games where I have a slight edge over my wife. 393 00:22:38,160 --> 00:22:40,280 Yeah, I think I have a better winning rate. 394 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,080 So I think like you, I try to do something different since I am 395 00:22:44,080 --> 00:22:47,160 likely to win. And I think my one of my crown 396 00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:52,280 achievement in this hobby is using one of the most useless 397 00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,080 tracks in Newton to win the game. 398 00:22:56,160 --> 00:22:57,960 I don't know. I don't know what, I don't 399 00:22:57,960 --> 00:23:00,400 remember what what it's called, but on the side of the board 400 00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:03,000 there was a a track with all these money. 401 00:23:03,560 --> 00:23:06,000 Yeah, it's the. So it's, it's the work. 402 00:23:06,040 --> 00:23:08,200 It's the work. Track the. 403 00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,680 Yeah, the icon is like, it's like a ruler with a scale. 404 00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:14,120 Yes, yes, that's. It yeah so it's like you go out 405 00:23:14,120 --> 00:23:19,000 to do work using math right you get you get money for it and. 406 00:23:19,560 --> 00:23:20,600 That's right. Yeah. 407 00:23:20,600 --> 00:23:24,400 So, yeah, we never ever, you know, used those tracks before. 408 00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:28,440 But I went all in on that track, which allowed me to jump around 409 00:23:28,440 --> 00:23:32,120 the the map of Italy. And then I just blasted her. 410 00:23:32,240 --> 00:23:34,200 And that was a that was a proud moment. 411 00:23:34,840 --> 00:23:37,920 Yeah, well, that's that's, that's, that's a similar thing 412 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:40,160 that my wife did to me today. Is that right? 413 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,120 Yeah, she, she went up that track pretty quickly. 414 00:23:43,280 --> 00:23:46,840 Like before I knew it, she had three leaders already unlocked 415 00:23:46,840 --> 00:23:50,120 and I'm like, I'm on my first way behind, way behind. 416 00:23:50,560 --> 00:23:53,640 That's crazy. So here's my question in two 417 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,640 parts, 2 parts for compassion in case the first part is too 418 00:23:57,640 --> 00:24:00,400 difficult. Do you have an absolute favorite 419 00:24:00,400 --> 00:24:03,440 board game of all time? And I realize that's a difficult 420 00:24:03,440 --> 00:24:05,000 question. So if not, do you have a 421 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:09,400 favorite board game right now? Yeah #1 void fall. 422 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:10,760 Void. Fall. 423 00:24:10,960 --> 00:24:15,000 Yeah, not it would close, but I haven't played in two years, so 424 00:24:15,000 --> 00:24:18,360 it's been a while. But it it lives in my in my 425 00:24:18,360 --> 00:24:20,400 brain like rent free, like all the time. 426 00:24:20,560 --> 00:24:25,920 Yeah, in my work office it's staring at me just across with 427 00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:28,560 my computer. So it's always in my life. 428 00:24:29,560 --> 00:24:35,280 And I think I played it when my baby was just born and he was 429 00:24:35,280 --> 00:24:38,160 sleeping all the time. So I have plenty of free time. 430 00:24:38,600 --> 00:24:43,480 So in my office I just set it up on my solo table for weeks at a 431 00:24:43,480 --> 00:24:48,560 time and I would just play. So it has a solo mode. 432 00:24:49,200 --> 00:24:54,160 Yeah, it has solo, Co-op and competitive modes, so there's a 433 00:24:54,160 --> 00:24:58,680 booklet that lists all the different scenarios for all 434 00:24:58,680 --> 00:25:01,480 three modes. So you could pick and choose 435 00:25:01,480 --> 00:25:05,840 easy mode, medium mode, hard mode and whatnot and it's 436 00:25:05,880 --> 00:25:08,000 brilliant. I'm going to have to check it 437 00:25:08,000 --> 00:25:09,040 out. I've never played it. 438 00:25:09,040 --> 00:25:12,680 It's it's like so it seems intimidating. 439 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:16,840 It is. And then it's like, will my wife 440 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:18,280 like it? But you just said there's a 441 00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:22,440 cooperative mode and and we both love cooperative games. 442 00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:27,160 So yeah, yeah, we don't we don't shy away from the the 443 00:25:27,160 --> 00:25:29,760 intimidating scale. I mean, jeez, we've got we've 444 00:25:29,760 --> 00:25:33,200 got all the Nemesis and we've got Ether Fields and Frost Haven 445 00:25:33,200 --> 00:25:35,880 and Gloom Haven. And these are big weighty games, 446 00:25:35,880 --> 00:25:39,440 you know, and we love heavy EUR. I mean, Vital Lacerda, forget 447 00:25:39,440 --> 00:25:40,240 about it. Right. 448 00:25:40,280 --> 00:25:42,520 But Void Fall. So tell me a little bit about 449 00:25:42,520 --> 00:25:43,520 Void Fall. Like how? 450 00:25:44,320 --> 00:25:48,360 Tell me about the gameplay. So you're fighting against a 451 00:25:48,360 --> 00:25:52,320 common enemy called Void Born that almost acts like parasites 452 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:54,280 trying to take over the entire universe and you're trying to 453 00:25:54,280 --> 00:25:57,520 prevent that. The intimidation factor is also 454 00:25:57,520 --> 00:26:00,520 the brilliant part is Eno tools graphic design. 455 00:26:00,520 --> 00:26:04,000 Of course there are. There are dozens and dozens and 456 00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:06,880 dozens of icons that you need to be familiar with. 457 00:26:07,520 --> 00:26:11,760 Oh yeah. Yeah, they're they're variations 458 00:26:11,760 --> 00:26:16,240 of a few different icons. So once you know the core icons, 459 00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:19,240 you understand the game basically. 460 00:26:19,520 --> 00:26:22,760 And once you crack that, it feels like you're you're seeing 461 00:26:22,760 --> 00:26:25,320 the the Matrix code. It's like you're speaking on 462 00:26:25,320 --> 00:26:28,640 another language and that just feels brilliant. 463 00:26:28,960 --> 00:26:33,120 That's amazing. That sounds, it sounds so good, 464 00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:37,400 like just you're describing the background and the setting and 465 00:26:37,400 --> 00:26:39,760 the theme. It's like this sounds like 466 00:26:39,760 --> 00:26:41,480 something that would hit our table. 467 00:26:41,840 --> 00:26:44,520 Yeah, but it does require a lot of commitment. 468 00:26:44,560 --> 00:26:48,400 You need to even just set up or prepping the game. 469 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:52,200 The setup takes forever, which is why I left that on the table 470 00:26:52,200 --> 00:26:53,920 for weeks at a time. Sure. 471 00:26:54,280 --> 00:26:58,040 So once I once I'm done with one session, it's easier to just 472 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:02,840 refresh and start, go again and instead of starting completely 473 00:27:02,840 --> 00:27:06,240 new. So yeah, I still like have like 474 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:09,480 really fondness for that game like 2 years ago. 475 00:27:10,560 --> 00:27:12,880 But right now I would say quacks. 476 00:27:12,920 --> 00:27:15,480 I still have have like fondness for quacks. 477 00:27:15,480 --> 00:27:18,720 Yeah, because, you know, because of toddler and my new job, like 478 00:27:18,720 --> 00:27:20,920 I rarely have time to play right. 479 00:27:20,920 --> 00:27:25,240 And Quacks, Quacks is so easy to set up again and it's just so 480 00:27:25,240 --> 00:27:29,080 satisfying. Finish in less than an hour and 481 00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:33,600 we could go again the next day. So that gets played quite a bit. 482 00:27:33,840 --> 00:27:38,680 And we recently got Holiday Hills on Christmas Eve no less. 483 00:27:39,000 --> 00:27:42,200 And I've become really good friends with designer Chris 484 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:47,320 Porter and he's an amazing person to just chat with and 485 00:27:47,320 --> 00:27:50,480 just get into his brain. And very generous as well. 486 00:27:51,280 --> 00:27:54,320 And even though, I mean, Christmas is over, we still play 487 00:27:54,320 --> 00:27:57,000 it. Yeah, it brings us back to 488 00:27:57,000 --> 00:28:00,280 Christmas festival mood. And we still have actually 489 00:28:00,280 --> 00:28:02,800 Christmas tree still up. Like I just don't have the time 490 00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:05,000 to take it down. That's OK. 491 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,480 Yeah, we used to back when we were in Louisiana, we would keep 492 00:28:10,480 --> 00:28:14,000 our Christmas tree up until probably February or March 493 00:28:14,000 --> 00:28:16,760 because what we do is when Christmas is over and Christmas 494 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:19,720 ends, a lot of people think Christmas starts like, you know, 495 00:28:19,720 --> 00:28:21,800 the 1st of November. Well, Christmas doesn't actually 496 00:28:21,800 --> 00:28:25,480 start till Christmas Day, right? There's, there's 12 days of 497 00:28:25,480 --> 00:28:28,640 Christmas, right? That's why the Christmas Carol, 498 00:28:28,640 --> 00:28:32,000 the 12 days of Christmas and that ends on January 6th, which 499 00:28:32,000 --> 00:28:34,960 is when Carnival begins and it culminates on Mardi Gras. 500 00:28:34,960 --> 00:28:38,080 So usually on the 6th of January, we take the Christmas 501 00:28:38,080 --> 00:28:42,320 ornaments off and we would put Mardi Gras colored lights and 502 00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:46,160 Mardi Gras ornaments and keep that up until Fat Tuesday. 503 00:28:46,160 --> 00:28:48,960 So, you know, you're, you're in good shape. 504 00:28:49,120 --> 00:28:52,120 You're in good shape. And I, I think you're actually, 505 00:28:52,800 --> 00:28:56,920 you're OK According to the Roman Catholic liturgical calendar, 506 00:28:57,120 --> 00:29:01,840 tomorrow, February, February 2nd is Candlemas, which means you 507 00:29:01,840 --> 00:29:05,600 can take your tree down then. So you've got one more day and 508 00:29:05,600 --> 00:29:06,840 you're in good shape. Yeah. 509 00:29:07,400 --> 00:29:09,960 We'll see. I got the tomorrow day off, so 510 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:13,440 we'll see. Yeah, put the baby down and get, 511 00:29:13,480 --> 00:29:16,600 you know, get cracking for. Sure. 512 00:29:18,200 --> 00:29:21,600 What about South Void? Fall is your favorite of all 513 00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:24,760 time, but you're obviously not hitting it. 514 00:29:24,760 --> 00:29:26,400 So you would say that your favorite? 515 00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:28,720 If so, then your favorite game right now is Quacks. 516 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:30,200 Then yes. Quacks. 517 00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,320 Yeah. Castle of Burgundy, the special 518 00:29:33,320 --> 00:29:36,000 burgundy gets played quite a bit, even though it requires a 519 00:29:36,000 --> 00:29:37,800 little bit more set up than quacks. 520 00:29:37,800 --> 00:29:40,640 A lot of like light games. Like my wife and I used to play 521 00:29:40,640 --> 00:29:43,240 a lot of heavy games like you with little sort of Martin 522 00:29:43,240 --> 00:29:47,440 Wallace games, but nowadays anything that requires 10 523 00:29:47,440 --> 00:29:49,400 minutes or more of setup doesn't get played. 524 00:29:49,840 --> 00:29:53,200 Right. Parenthood, it kind of, yeah, I 525 00:29:53,200 --> 00:29:56,240 can understand that. Do you play, do you play Quacks 526 00:29:56,240 --> 00:29:58,960 just the base game or have you incorporated any of the 527 00:29:58,960 --> 00:30:02,080 expansions? My problem with expansion is 528 00:30:02,080 --> 00:30:05,480 that we rarely play games on a regular basis. 529 00:30:06,000 --> 00:30:11,560 So once we come back to a game, we have to refresh the rules and 530 00:30:11,560 --> 00:30:15,000 play again in order to get to the expansion. 531 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:17,240 But we may never get to that expansion. 532 00:30:18,200 --> 00:30:21,800 Sure. So we desperately want to try 533 00:30:21,800 --> 00:30:25,880 all the expansion and the other content in the game, but we're 534 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:28,120 just so happy with the base game already. 535 00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:32,880 Yeah, we figured this game will stay with us for a lifetime, so 536 00:30:33,160 --> 00:30:36,960 eventually when when the the boy goes off to college, we'll get 537 00:30:36,960 --> 00:30:40,120 the expansions out. So 20 years from now, you'll 538 00:30:40,120 --> 00:30:44,000 finally get the. I love that. 539 00:30:44,200 --> 00:30:48,600 So tell me when you decide when you decided to start creating 540 00:30:48,600 --> 00:30:52,880 content on Instagram, who inspired you? 541 00:30:52,880 --> 00:30:56,320 Were were there any content creators or designers or anyone 542 00:30:56,320 --> 00:30:58,880 that inspired you personally? Yeah, for sure. 543 00:30:58,960 --> 00:31:04,080 I started the the Instagram for very very selfish reasons, which 544 00:31:04,080 --> 00:31:06,080 is to get free games. OK. 545 00:31:06,520 --> 00:31:10,400 Yeah, so I had a gaming, very small gaming group and a friend 546 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:14,480 who's from Middle East and he had a YouTube channel and 547 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:19,600 Instagram and he he taught, he was basically introducing the 548 00:31:19,600 --> 00:31:22,480 Western games to the Arabic audiences. 549 00:31:22,880 --> 00:31:28,160 And one of these game session, he was saying how was game 550 00:31:28,160 --> 00:31:31,560 publisher sent him games to review and cover. 551 00:31:31,560 --> 00:31:35,160 I was like you can do that. Yes, you can, yeah. 552 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:40,080 So that day I converted my personal Instagram account to 553 00:31:40,160 --> 00:31:42,800 board game Instagram account because I didn't know this thing 554 00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:44,560 was going to take off. Right. 555 00:31:45,120 --> 00:31:49,120 So let's post some pictures of our gaming sessions and see what 556 00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:53,520 happens. And then, yeah, I was never 557 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:57,960 really into influencing people into buying games that have been 558 00:31:57,960 --> 00:31:59,680 enjoyed. I just wanted to share. 559 00:32:00,000 --> 00:32:03,960 That was the only reason. And I contacted few publishers 560 00:32:03,960 --> 00:32:07,680 early on, and they were gracious enough to send me some review 561 00:32:07,680 --> 00:32:10,640 units. And I try to cover them as best 562 00:32:10,640 --> 00:32:14,440 as possible because I understand not all games are for everyone. 563 00:32:14,720 --> 00:32:19,560 So even if I do not like these games, if I tell people what I 564 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:25,040 like what I didn't like, people understand their own what they 565 00:32:25,040 --> 00:32:25,720 what? What? 566 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,920 What am I saying? Yeah, You know what I mean. 567 00:32:31,640 --> 00:32:35,040 Right. Yeah, so even even if I do not 568 00:32:35,040 --> 00:32:38,280 like something that I might be like a trade that they like. 569 00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:42,480 So I try to cover all bases and try to introduce games as much 570 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,480 as possible in a in a good manner with the resources that I 571 00:32:46,480 --> 00:32:49,240 have. I don't have any like fancy like 572 00:32:49,240 --> 00:32:51,360 camera equipment, no lighting, nothing. 573 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:55,720 So it's a table with my iPhone and that's like that's it for 574 00:32:56,320 --> 00:33:00,240 all my photos. And yeah, it struck core with a 575 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:04,360 lot of people online and I've been doing that for like 4-4 576 00:33:04,360 --> 00:33:06,960 years now. Yeah, yeah. 577 00:33:07,240 --> 00:33:09,800 And still going. Yeah. 578 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:13,040 So I'm wondering if how was it like? 579 00:33:13,280 --> 00:33:16,320 So when you first just, was there any content creators that 580 00:33:16,320 --> 00:33:19,800 you like you looked to to see knowing that you didn't have all 581 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:22,720 the equipment and everything like you said, were there any 582 00:33:22,720 --> 00:33:25,600 that you were like, oh, I really like what they're doing? 583 00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:28,360 And did you read? And if so, did you reach out to 584 00:33:28,360 --> 00:33:31,760 them? How were you received in the 585 00:33:31,760 --> 00:33:33,440 community? Sure. 586 00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:40,080 Yeah, Early on, I think Mike of 1 bookcase, we found each other 587 00:33:40,080 --> 00:33:43,160 somehow and we were playing similar games. 588 00:33:43,160 --> 00:33:47,160 We had similar tastes. He had a lot of great photos, 589 00:33:47,160 --> 00:33:49,360 not only photos, but great tasting games too. 590 00:33:49,640 --> 00:33:52,200 And I was constantly discovering new games through him. 591 00:33:52,200 --> 00:33:56,160 And I think he became like one of my first friends on IG. 592 00:33:56,520 --> 00:34:03,360 And eventually I gather about nine other guys who were like 593 00:34:03,360 --> 00:34:06,480 like minded. And we created a group right now 594 00:34:06,480 --> 00:34:09,679 it's called the fridge repair Supports and they come from all 595 00:34:09,679 --> 00:34:13,320 walks of life, like some cover. Obviously they're all on IG, but 596 00:34:13,560 --> 00:34:15,760 many of them do have YouTube channels. 597 00:34:15,760 --> 00:34:17,520 How many do you have? Tik Toks? 598 00:34:17,520 --> 00:34:20,960 So we all share different information, a different 599 00:34:20,960 --> 00:34:25,239 experience that we tried and we share the findings basically. 600 00:34:25,639 --> 00:34:30,000 So we motivate each other and help each other grow. 601 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,840 Yeah, they, they all have different size of audience, but 602 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:36,600 that doesn't really matter as well as we're always constantly 603 00:34:36,600 --> 00:34:40,280 motivate each other. And the name came from we had, 604 00:34:40,400 --> 00:34:42,440 we constantly changed the name of the group. 605 00:34:43,320 --> 00:34:47,239 Sometimes it was like King Max and the Minions or something 606 00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,560 like that. And one day one of us, we always 607 00:34:50,560 --> 00:34:51,960 talk about board games, obviously. 608 00:34:52,400 --> 00:34:56,239 Sure, one of them was having some trouble with fridge and 609 00:34:56,239 --> 00:34:58,800 everyone was pitching in different ideas to fix the 610 00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:02,160 fridge, which is why we named it the fridge repair support. 611 00:35:02,360 --> 00:35:05,800 And then they just suck. So I can have you all over and 612 00:35:05,800 --> 00:35:08,400 we could play a bunch of games and if I have a problem with a 613 00:35:08,400 --> 00:35:10,480 refrigerator y'all can help me with that too. 614 00:35:10,840 --> 00:35:13,360 Sure, yeah, there's no guarantee it'll get fixed. 615 00:35:15,000 --> 00:35:18,040 What about the one problem when when you change the name, did 616 00:35:18,040 --> 00:35:21,320 you, did you come up with a solution for fixing that 617 00:35:21,320 --> 00:35:24,360 refrigerator? Or I don't think it's it's 618 00:35:24,360 --> 00:35:27,040 fixed. No, we just, we just provide 619 00:35:27,040 --> 00:35:31,760 support, support. Yes, this community, this 620 00:35:31,760 --> 00:35:35,280 community is really great at supporting one another, I think. 621 00:35:36,080 --> 00:35:38,800 And it's it sounds like you plugged into a good group. 622 00:35:40,360 --> 00:35:44,680 So that, that, that's great to hear you And I had talked before 623 00:35:44,680 --> 00:35:47,680 about some of the things we wanted to cover. 624 00:35:47,680 --> 00:35:52,720 And I always ask this question, is there anything in the 625 00:35:52,720 --> 00:35:58,600 community that you've seen where you think we need to do better? 626 00:35:59,120 --> 00:36:00,800 Yeah, yeah. Well, for sure, Yeah. 627 00:36:00,800 --> 00:36:04,440 There was a topic that I posted on Facebook Media Group for 628 00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:07,040 content creators and publishers. Yeah. 629 00:36:07,160 --> 00:36:12,560 And one thing that I want to tell people is as an 630 00:36:12,560 --> 00:36:16,600 Instagrammer, like I post all my photos to BGG and a lot of 631 00:36:16,600 --> 00:36:21,240 Youtubers, they create a preview videos of like SN or Gen. 632 00:36:21,240 --> 00:36:26,120 Con or, or this year and they pull a lot of photos from BGG 633 00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:30,880 that's not their property. Or they have a, a screen capture 634 00:36:30,880 --> 00:36:34,640 of them going through the BGG page to show what the game looks 635 00:36:34,640 --> 00:36:38,160 like, what not. And sometimes I do previews and 636 00:36:38,520 --> 00:36:42,280 I had the privilege of proving these games and post photos 637 00:36:42,280 --> 00:36:44,800 early. And I wish the Youtubers 638 00:36:44,800 --> 00:36:48,840 understood more about the copyright laws and the terms of 639 00:36:48,840 --> 00:36:52,960 service for PGG. Where you cannot use other 640 00:36:52,960 --> 00:36:56,200 people's photos without permission, YouTube is not 641 00:36:56,200 --> 00:37:00,120 really enforcing it. But you do require permission 642 00:37:00,120 --> 00:37:03,040 from the photographers to use those photos. 643 00:37:03,440 --> 00:37:07,920 And BG GS terms of service states that any for photos 644 00:37:08,120 --> 00:37:11,160 uploaded to BGG, the BGG can use it obviously. 645 00:37:11,560 --> 00:37:16,000 But and any users have a non exclusive rights to use those 646 00:37:16,000 --> 00:37:19,960 photos within BGG, not outside BGG. 647 00:37:20,000 --> 00:37:23,600 So in order to use those photos on your YouTube content you have 648 00:37:23,600 --> 00:37:27,600 to obtain permission from the photographer or at the very 649 00:37:27,600 --> 00:37:31,400 least at them right? Because those pictures aren't 650 00:37:31,400 --> 00:37:34,160 your assets, but you didn't take your, you didn't take those 651 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:37,000 photos yourselves. So you need to ask for 652 00:37:37,000 --> 00:37:39,640 permission 1st. And I think a lot of Youtubers 653 00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:42,920 doesn't really know, but they just think if it's from BGG, 654 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:44,920 it's a public forum, public resource. 655 00:37:45,200 --> 00:37:47,600 So they think these can just use it. 656 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:53,200 So that was a big topic that had quite a bit of comments. 657 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,280 Yeah. And a lot of Youtubers didn't 658 00:37:55,280 --> 00:37:57,360 realize that you had to ask for permission. 659 00:37:58,200 --> 00:38:00,120 That's I appreciate you bringing that up. 660 00:38:00,120 --> 00:38:03,440 I think I think it's a copyright is copyright law. 661 00:38:03,520 --> 00:38:07,160 Jesus in the United States alone is so complicated. 662 00:38:08,760 --> 00:38:12,120 So let's let's let's take that to fruition, right? 663 00:38:12,120 --> 00:38:16,720 Because obviously I post the video of this podcast on YouTube 664 00:38:17,000 --> 00:38:20,520 and let's say in the section where you and I were talking 665 00:38:20,520 --> 00:38:25,320 about quacks, I pull a picture of quacks to do an overlay and I 666 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:32,560 pull it from BGG, right? So how would you cite that 667 00:38:33,120 --> 00:38:36,800 picture in the video? Like how would what would that 668 00:38:36,800 --> 00:38:37,960 look like? How would that work? 669 00:38:38,000 --> 00:38:41,840 Well, yeah, I would definitely ask for the the owner's 670 00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:45,560 permission first. If not, I mean Alex of a pork 671 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,400 and coal, like he never uses any like overlay photos. 672 00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,240 He was just, you know, hold up the box or put the box on the 673 00:38:51,240 --> 00:38:54,800 table to, you know, point at it or whatever, right. 674 00:38:55,800 --> 00:38:59,440 So there are there are ways. I mean, quacks is a popular 675 00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:01,800 title. You could definitely create your 676 00:39:01,800 --> 00:39:04,520 own assets, take your own pictures and overlay those 677 00:39:04,520 --> 00:39:07,400 instead. I mean, that's the best possible 678 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,360 solution. Use your own assets. 679 00:39:10,360 --> 00:39:13,280 Right, Yeah. So what I, what I have, what I 680 00:39:13,280 --> 00:39:16,760 have found that's worked for me is if I, if I talk about a game, 681 00:39:17,120 --> 00:39:19,440 I usually take a picture of it so that I could put it on the 682 00:39:19,440 --> 00:39:21,480 overlay. And like, if you talk about a 683 00:39:21,480 --> 00:39:24,120 game that I'd like, you talked about void fall and I don't own 684 00:39:24,120 --> 00:39:26,240 void fall. I would be like, hey, could you 685 00:39:26,240 --> 00:39:30,280 take me, take a picture of it for the show and send it to me 686 00:39:30,280 --> 00:39:32,560 so I can put an overlay while we're talking. 687 00:39:32,640 --> 00:39:36,160 I find that that serves me well. It's better than us holding them 688 00:39:36,160 --> 00:39:40,160 up because I'm on a, I'm on a very portable system. 689 00:39:40,520 --> 00:39:42,880 I'm sitting in front of my my shelves. 690 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:44,760 I'm not sitting at my game table. 691 00:39:44,960 --> 00:39:49,240 If I were doing more of a vlog kind of thing, I could do that. 692 00:39:49,240 --> 00:39:52,520 And I have in some of my shorts. So yeah, I think there's room 693 00:39:52,520 --> 00:39:55,520 for everything. But I think again, you bring up 694 00:39:55,520 --> 00:39:58,640 the great point. Any assets that you use if you 695 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:01,920 pull from a website, getting that permission so you don't 696 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:05,000 violate copyright is fundamental. 697 00:40:05,600 --> 00:40:08,240 Exactly. And also publisher will be happy 698 00:40:08,240 --> 00:40:11,960 to provide you with really great publicity photos of their, of 699 00:40:11,960 --> 00:40:13,880 their games. So that's another route that 700 00:40:13,880 --> 00:40:18,120 any, anyone can go through. And many of them do have these 701 00:40:18,160 --> 00:40:21,360 media assets on their websites that you could go and download 702 00:40:21,360 --> 00:40:23,760 them. They're super high quality and 703 00:40:23,760 --> 00:40:26,040 they show the game in the best possible light. 704 00:40:26,400 --> 00:40:29,200 And yeah, and if not, just e-mail them, ask for some 705 00:40:29,200 --> 00:40:31,160 photos. They'll be happy to provide 706 00:40:31,160 --> 00:40:33,440 those photos for extra coverage and exposure. 707 00:40:33,680 --> 00:40:36,360 For free. Yeah, absolutely. 708 00:40:36,360 --> 00:40:38,280 I love that. Thanks for bringing it up. 709 00:40:38,560 --> 00:40:40,920 I think it's I think it's an important thing to bring up 710 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:46,320 because we're all we all work so hard on our digital content and 711 00:40:46,320 --> 00:40:49,880 to not get recognized when someone uses it. 712 00:40:49,960 --> 00:40:52,560 I know there's been a lot of talk about people copying other 713 00:40:52,560 --> 00:40:56,440 folks content, the rise of AI as well. 714 00:40:57,320 --> 00:41:00,800 I know that that those those conversations seem to be kind of 715 00:41:00,800 --> 00:41:02,480 together. And I think copyright law is 716 00:41:02,480 --> 00:41:04,480 something people need to know about, you know? 717 00:41:04,640 --> 00:41:08,000 Yeah. And, and yeah, all these people 718 00:41:08,000 --> 00:41:11,440 like using my content in their content. 719 00:41:11,440 --> 00:41:14,120 Like I'm sure they have no malicious intent. 720 00:41:14,520 --> 00:41:19,280 Yeah, they never expressed that my photos are their content. 721 00:41:19,320 --> 00:41:21,120 They're just showcasing the game. 722 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:24,920 And my photos happen to be on BGG that they pull from so I 723 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:30,000 completely understand it. But at the very least, credit at 724 00:41:30,000 --> 00:41:32,760 the very least. Give tie to credit guys he 725 00:41:32,760 --> 00:41:35,600 needs. That not just me, not just me, 726 00:41:35,600 --> 00:41:39,320 anyone. And they see these the biggest a 727 00:41:39,320 --> 00:41:43,480 board game channels like Dice Tower using these photos from 728 00:41:43,480 --> 00:41:48,960 BGG without any credit and other smaller Youtubers I think like 729 00:41:48,960 --> 00:41:51,840 that's OK because the biggest ones are used doing it right. 730 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,080 Right. And absolutely, it's not fair. 731 00:41:55,800 --> 00:42:00,440 So aside from copyright and credits and captions, right, If 732 00:42:00,440 --> 00:42:04,400 someone were to come to you and say, hey, you know what I'm 733 00:42:04,400 --> 00:42:07,640 thinking about, you know, becoming a content creator, you 734 00:42:07,640 --> 00:42:11,560 know, starting to post some of the games that I'm reviewing for 735 00:42:11,560 --> 00:42:14,040 people, what advice would you give to them? 736 00:42:14,120 --> 00:42:15,760 Create content that makes you happy. 737 00:42:17,080 --> 00:42:20,840 It's like things that you play. Don't ever chase the the new 738 00:42:20,840 --> 00:42:23,920 hotness because you're going to need another mortgage. 739 00:42:26,960 --> 00:42:30,880 I mean, I like, even though I have a lot of access to a lot of 740 00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,080 new games, Yeah. I think I only request games 741 00:42:34,520 --> 00:42:38,200 that sparks my interest. I mean, you know, a few years 742 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:40,800 ago, like I used to request everything because. 743 00:42:42,040 --> 00:42:44,200 Yeah, because I could get them. Yeah. 744 00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:48,880 But now I'm very selective of things, that of the games that I 745 00:42:48,880 --> 00:42:54,360 think my wife and I will enjoy. And I fall into that trap of 746 00:42:54,360 --> 00:42:57,720 only covering games that I review positively. 747 00:42:57,880 --> 00:43:01,760 But I mean, you don't want to spend hours on a game that you 748 00:43:01,800 --> 00:43:04,440 that's dreadful. And you don't want to spend 749 00:43:04,440 --> 00:43:07,160 hours writing that review and taking photographs. 750 00:43:07,880 --> 00:43:11,360 I don't want to waste my time. I don't know that's that's 751 00:43:11,360 --> 00:43:13,120 taking time away from my toddler. 752 00:43:13,640 --> 00:43:17,200 Right. Well, yeah, Yep, that's true. 753 00:43:17,440 --> 00:43:19,400 But that's good advice is do it. Do it. 754 00:43:19,400 --> 00:43:22,960 I think that's been coming up a lot is everyone's advice is do 755 00:43:22,960 --> 00:43:26,560 what you enjoy, you know, maintain your happiness, 756 00:43:26,560 --> 00:43:29,560 maintain your joy. As long as you, you enjoy the 757 00:43:29,560 --> 00:43:31,920 content you're creating, then go for it. 758 00:43:32,360 --> 00:43:35,720 I think that's the best, that's the best advice that I keep 759 00:43:35,720 --> 00:43:38,600 hearing this time and time again. 760 00:43:38,760 --> 00:43:41,880 So I, I wanted to ask you though, about reviews real 761 00:43:41,880 --> 00:43:44,360 quick. I wrestle. 762 00:43:44,360 --> 00:43:46,720 I don't do reviews. I'm always upfront with 763 00:43:46,720 --> 00:43:49,960 publishers, designers that I don't do reviews. 764 00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:52,560 What I do like to do is if you design A game, I want to have 765 00:43:52,560 --> 00:43:54,400 you come on the show and tell me about your journey. 766 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:57,640 I'm more interested in that. That to me is a compelling 767 00:43:57,640 --> 00:44:01,200 story, and I think it's the way that I contribute my little bit 768 00:44:01,560 --> 00:44:06,480 to building this community. But sometimes I get games sent 769 00:44:06,480 --> 00:44:08,960 to me. It's less often than one would 770 00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:12,320 think, believe it or not, but I wrestle with this. 771 00:44:12,320 --> 00:44:16,320 I I get a game and I don't like it. 772 00:44:16,400 --> 00:44:18,160 How do you handle that? Right? 773 00:44:18,320 --> 00:44:22,320 Like how do you balance because you want to give a balanced 774 00:44:22,320 --> 00:44:26,440 review, You want to be honest. This is another topic that's 775 00:44:26,440 --> 00:44:30,480 been coming up in the content creator community is giving an 776 00:44:30,480 --> 00:44:34,320 honest review. Not that you want to be negative 777 00:44:34,320 --> 00:44:39,240 and just eviscerate the designer in their game, but how do you 778 00:44:39,240 --> 00:44:42,360 balance a game that you you review and and you don't you 779 00:44:42,360 --> 00:44:46,560 didn't like it or you have you have things to say that are less 780 00:44:46,560 --> 00:44:48,920 positive. How do you balance those two? 781 00:44:49,480 --> 00:44:51,320 Yeah, that's a that's a tough question. 782 00:44:51,440 --> 00:44:56,640 I think early on in my content creation career, I think I try 783 00:44:56,640 --> 00:45:01,880 to be as truthful as possible. And I think that got me on a lot 784 00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:06,360 of blacklists because, yeah, I think I just crapped on the 785 00:45:06,360 --> 00:45:11,080 games. In hindsight, I don't think I 786 00:45:11,080 --> 00:45:12,800 should have done that. OK. 787 00:45:14,000 --> 00:45:17,320 There are ways obviously you could point out the positives 788 00:45:17,320 --> 00:45:20,360 and the negative things that I like and dislike. 789 00:45:20,360 --> 00:45:24,120 There's another way where you could contact the publisher and 790 00:45:24,120 --> 00:45:26,160 tell them I do not enjoy this game. 791 00:45:26,160 --> 00:45:30,120 This game does not fit my taste. And they will likely tell you 792 00:45:30,120 --> 00:45:33,360 to, I know some publishers, they will tell you to donate the game 793 00:45:33,360 --> 00:45:38,200 to a local gaming group or library so that it's not sitting 794 00:45:38,200 --> 00:45:40,840 on my shelf. So that does happen. 795 00:45:41,040 --> 00:45:44,880 So it's it's best to be truthful with the publisher. 796 00:45:45,360 --> 00:45:47,480 Yes. Let them know I do not enjoy it. 797 00:45:47,480 --> 00:45:50,080 What do you want me to do with this review copy? 798 00:45:50,120 --> 00:45:53,080 They might say, yeah, keep it or give it to someone who might 799 00:45:53,080 --> 00:45:55,000 like it. Yeah, yeah. 800 00:45:55,240 --> 00:45:57,520 So you don't. You don't always have to post 801 00:45:58,200 --> 00:46:01,000 games that you receive. Yeah, and. 802 00:46:01,440 --> 00:46:03,560 It's a challenge. It's a challenge. 803 00:46:03,600 --> 00:46:06,440 I think what I would say if anyone's listening and they're 804 00:46:06,440 --> 00:46:09,640 either new to the content creation or they're thinking 805 00:46:09,640 --> 00:46:12,760 about starting to transition from just being a casual gamer 806 00:46:12,760 --> 00:46:14,920 to content creators, be aware of that. 807 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:19,880 You want to be honest, but you don't want to be negative. 808 00:46:19,920 --> 00:46:22,480 And I believe that you could be constructive through that 809 00:46:22,480 --> 00:46:24,920 honesty. And I think reaching out, I 810 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:27,720 like, I like your advice is reaching out to the the 811 00:46:27,960 --> 00:46:31,640 designer, the publisher and say, hey, before I publish anything, 812 00:46:32,040 --> 00:46:36,160 before I post anything, this is, this is what I thought that I 813 00:46:36,240 --> 00:46:39,000 this is what I really like. So rather than reviews, what I 814 00:46:39,000 --> 00:46:43,320 do is play test, right? So I, what I do see a lot of are 815 00:46:43,320 --> 00:46:46,600 prototypes. I see tons of prototypes that 816 00:46:46,600 --> 00:46:49,000 come through. So I know that the game when it 817 00:46:49,000 --> 00:46:53,520 arrives at my door, it's going to look so different when it 818 00:46:53,520 --> 00:46:56,320 leaves my door. So I don't have to worry about 819 00:46:56,320 --> 00:46:57,960 that. And then what I can do is so you 820 00:46:57,960 --> 00:47:01,240 design A game, you mail it to me, I play test it. 821 00:47:01,400 --> 00:47:05,160 My wife and I, you know, eviscerated to, you know, in, in 822 00:47:05,160 --> 00:47:08,440 that constructive way. And then we send you our 823 00:47:08,440 --> 00:47:13,000 feedback work on this, this is good, this is bad, this, you 824 00:47:13,000 --> 00:47:15,760 know, whatever. And then have you on the show 825 00:47:15,760 --> 00:47:19,680 and talk about your journey, which is, which is so exciting 826 00:47:19,680 --> 00:47:22,680 for me, which I really the, the, I never thought about it until 827 00:47:22,680 --> 00:47:28,440 this last year, 2025 was probably the most prolific in 828 00:47:28,440 --> 00:47:32,480 terms of prototypes that came to my house, right? 829 00:47:32,720 --> 00:47:35,000 That they they were willing to ship me prototypes. 830 00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:39,520 In fact, I had some designer friends stay for the weekend. 831 00:47:39,520 --> 00:47:42,480 They they did they came over and stayed the weekend and, you 832 00:47:42,480 --> 00:47:47,240 know, they were working on a new game we got to play a they got 833 00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:50,920 we got to play the final product of their game that we play 834 00:47:50,920 --> 00:47:53,320 tested in the past. So that was really exciting. 835 00:47:53,320 --> 00:47:54,520 I love that. Yeah. 836 00:47:54,560 --> 00:47:56,360 So people think I'm just making this up. 837 00:47:56,360 --> 00:47:58,720 No, see, I don't have any children. 838 00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:02,040 So I have like this house. You can stay. 839 00:48:02,200 --> 00:48:05,520 You all can't stay at one time, but you could come and stay for 840 00:48:05,520 --> 00:48:08,480 the weekend, right? I will cook for you and you can 841 00:48:08,480 --> 00:48:12,200 play games with me and I'll be happy, you know, but play 842 00:48:12,200 --> 00:48:16,840 testing in the podcast, just they go hand in hand in ways 843 00:48:17,040 --> 00:48:21,800 that I wasn't prepared for and it has allowed me to slightly 844 00:48:21,800 --> 00:48:24,640 upgrade my system. I'm I've got a mobile studio now 845 00:48:24,640 --> 00:48:26,600 that I didn't have before. I hope. 846 00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:29,200 I don't know if anyone's noticed, but I have the new 4K 847 00:48:29,200 --> 00:48:31,680 camera. So I'm really excited about that 848 00:48:31,680 --> 00:48:33,640 because I I'm a little bit more crystal clear. 849 00:48:33,880 --> 00:48:39,040 Maybe shouldn't, maybe I shouldn't be with this face, you 850 00:48:39,040 --> 00:48:43,120 know. But yeah, I love the prototypes. 851 00:48:43,600 --> 00:48:47,880 I think the beauty of play testing it it there's a lot of 852 00:48:48,080 --> 00:48:50,720 there's less pressure when reviewing, right? 853 00:48:50,720 --> 00:48:52,920 Because you don't, you don't want to be too negative. 854 00:48:52,960 --> 00:48:55,800 Well, in this case you do. You want to be brutally honest 855 00:48:55,800 --> 00:48:58,560 so that you could help the designer make their game better, 856 00:48:58,600 --> 00:49:00,800 right? And that's. 857 00:49:00,800 --> 00:49:02,880 That's been great. Yeah, I definitely see the 858 00:49:02,880 --> 00:49:07,200 attraction of point testing, but I think I'm the opposite of you. 859 00:49:07,920 --> 00:49:10,480 I think I prefer the final version. 860 00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:13,600 OK. Playing the game as intended by 861 00:49:13,600 --> 00:49:16,480 the designer. But I'm like, I mean, I've 862 00:49:16,480 --> 00:49:19,760 played plenty of prototypes that are close to final. 863 00:49:20,240 --> 00:49:25,000 And depending on our feedback, the studios actually do make 864 00:49:25,000 --> 00:49:29,680 those changes because they can possibly play taste every aspect 865 00:49:29,680 --> 00:49:31,240 of the game. Yeah. 866 00:49:31,240 --> 00:49:35,520 So it is really gratifying to see those changes that your 867 00:49:35,520 --> 00:49:38,880 feedback meant something. Yes to the to the designer. 868 00:49:38,880 --> 00:49:41,960 Yes, Yeah, Absolutely. Absolutely. 869 00:49:42,200 --> 00:49:46,040 Yeah, yeah. So I've got to ask you about 870 00:49:46,080 --> 00:49:49,640 your your Instagram name, right? Thai ET. 871 00:49:49,840 --> 00:49:53,640 Now, I understand it's TAE and you put it in its three 872 00:49:53,640 --> 00:49:56,760 different forms, but I wanted to ask you about tea. 873 00:49:58,280 --> 00:50:02,440 Here's the question. Are you an avid tea drinker? 874 00:50:03,480 --> 00:50:08,440 No. No, that ruins the whole episode 875 00:50:08,440 --> 00:50:11,600 for me. Wrong answer. 876 00:50:11,600 --> 00:50:12,840 Let's try that. Again, no. 877 00:50:14,280 --> 00:50:18,240 I do drink tea quite a bit, but I only drink like, green tea. 878 00:50:18,600 --> 00:50:22,200 OK, so something that doesn't have a lot of fruity flavors. 879 00:50:22,200 --> 00:50:25,640 Yeah, green tea is pretty much the only thing I drink. 880 00:50:25,640 --> 00:50:28,440 Or something with honey and wild ginseng. 881 00:50:28,920 --> 00:50:32,440 Sure, yeah. What about What about at your 882 00:50:32,440 --> 00:50:34,080 tape? At your tabletop, you and your 883 00:50:34,080 --> 00:50:36,720 wife sit down to play a game. Do you have a pot of tea or a 884 00:50:36,720 --> 00:50:39,080 cup of tea while gaming? Beer. 885 00:50:39,200 --> 00:50:41,040 Just beer. Beer. 886 00:50:41,080 --> 00:50:44,440 There it is, beer. OK, but I mean like my name was 887 00:50:44,560 --> 00:50:48,520 anagram like it's true anagram for eat. 888 00:50:49,080 --> 00:50:50,760 Yeah. Tea and eight. 889 00:50:51,400 --> 00:50:54,640 Yeah, that's true. So anything that's related to 890 00:50:54,640 --> 00:50:59,080 like Edie? Well OK, so let let's talk about 891 00:50:59,080 --> 00:51:01,760 the eating then, since you pretty much ruined my theory on 892 00:51:01,760 --> 00:51:06,000 tea. No, I'm just what about what 893 00:51:06,000 --> 00:51:09,680 about snacks at your table? Do you allow them and do you 894 00:51:09,680 --> 00:51:12,240 have a favorite? Yeah, I mean, we do. 895 00:51:12,240 --> 00:51:17,520 We do fruits quite a bit, some chips, but like any good Asians 896 00:51:17,760 --> 00:51:20,480 we use chopsticks to eat chips. Sure, sure. 897 00:51:21,800 --> 00:51:25,000 Because we don't want to get these precious games any dirty 898 00:51:25,000 --> 00:51:28,840 then they need to be. No, you're totally, totally 899 00:51:28,840 --> 00:51:31,120 right about that. I agree with that. 900 00:51:31,200 --> 00:51:34,720 Yeah, we like, well, especially now after all the surgeries I 901 00:51:34,720 --> 00:51:38,480 had over the holidays, we 'cause I'm more on a high protein and 902 00:51:38,480 --> 00:51:43,920 low fat diet, so a lot of hummus with very vegetables, you know, 903 00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:47,320 you know, really enjoying that. And also it's not very messy, 904 00:51:47,320 --> 00:51:48,840 you know, 'cause you can have it. 905 00:51:48,840 --> 00:51:51,920 You can have your little bowl of hummus, you know, and your 906 00:51:51,920 --> 00:51:54,480 Peppers and your cucumbers and carrots and stuff. 907 00:51:54,480 --> 00:51:56,040 So they're all good for you then. 908 00:51:56,080 --> 00:52:00,280 Yeah, healthy eating, healthier guys, so that I can give you 909 00:52:00,280 --> 00:52:06,040 more podcast episodes to enjoy. Well, PJ, but we want you to 910 00:52:06,040 --> 00:52:08,360 live forever. That's all I want. 911 00:52:09,240 --> 00:52:12,320 OK, well thank you. I'll tell you something that 912 00:52:12,320 --> 00:52:14,960 I've not told anyone. I've I've never said it online 913 00:52:14,960 --> 00:52:16,200 before. It's not really a secret. 914 00:52:16,280 --> 00:52:21,240 So when my wife and I first met and started dating and when I 915 00:52:21,240 --> 00:52:25,560 asked her to to marry me and she said yes, she's like, but I want 916 00:52:25,640 --> 00:52:29,080 a 75th wedding anniversary. So. 917 00:52:29,240 --> 00:52:31,240 So let's do the math for a moment. 918 00:52:31,240 --> 00:52:34,840 Let's do the math. PJ is now 50 years old. 919 00:52:36,160 --> 00:52:42,560 I have to live to 109 so that my wife can have a 75th. 920 00:52:42,840 --> 00:52:48,960 Well, it's doable, but clearly I was doing something wrong 921 00:52:48,960 --> 00:52:52,760 because I got it led me into the hospital over the holidays and I 922 00:52:52,760 --> 00:52:55,480 had to have all these surgeries because I wasn't taking care of 923 00:52:55,480 --> 00:52:58,640 myself. I thought I was, but clearly I 924 00:52:58,640 --> 00:53:02,000 needed to work harder and so. Well, those are the medical 925 00:53:02,000 --> 00:53:03,640 interventions made you clearly better. 926 00:53:04,040 --> 00:53:08,760 Yeah, now I just got to follow through, so yeah, watch that. 927 00:53:09,160 --> 00:53:11,480 So we improve the snacks. We improve the snacks. 928 00:53:11,480 --> 00:53:13,440 Thank you. I appreciate that because I need 929 00:53:13,440 --> 00:53:14,640 it. So yeah. 930 00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:17,000 Well, Ty. Thank you for your time. 931 00:53:17,000 --> 00:53:19,080 Thanks for joining. Thanks for reaching out to me. 932 00:53:20,120 --> 00:53:22,480 You know, look, and, and this is for all of you. 933 00:53:22,920 --> 00:53:25,840 If you want to come on the show, man, you know, send me Adm on 934 00:53:25,840 --> 00:53:28,200 Instagram. You can find me on Facebook. 935 00:53:28,200 --> 00:53:30,200 I'm on TikTok. Tell me you want to come on the 936 00:53:30,200 --> 00:53:32,800 show. We'll just chat for an hour. 937 00:53:32,800 --> 00:53:35,560 And you know, we'll, we'll keep building this community and 938 00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:38,680 nurturing openness. I think I really loved your 939 00:53:38,680 --> 00:53:44,760 story about the the friend of yours who was teaching Western 940 00:53:44,760 --> 00:53:49,640 games to an Arabic world. I mean, if that's not nurturing 941 00:53:49,640 --> 00:53:52,920 inclusivity and diversity, I don't know what else is. 942 00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:53,960 Right. Yeah. 943 00:53:53,960 --> 00:53:57,440 And I feel, I feel like that that friend is doing more for 944 00:53:57,440 --> 00:53:59,560 the community than I am. Oh, yeah. 945 00:53:59,640 --> 00:54:01,840 I, I need to work harder, guys. Yeah. 946 00:54:01,960 --> 00:54:06,080 Man, he had all these, all these really great gateway games. 947 00:54:06,400 --> 00:54:08,680 Yeah, on his shelves are our all Arabic. 948 00:54:08,680 --> 00:54:11,560 I can recognize the cover, but I I couldn't obviously read it 949 00:54:12,000 --> 00:54:14,200 right. Yeah, he was, he was involved, 950 00:54:14,200 --> 00:54:17,680 like I think he was helping publishers to bring those games 951 00:54:17,680 --> 00:54:21,360 over as well as teaching those games on YouTube. 952 00:54:21,920 --> 00:54:23,840 So like, he was doing some amazing work. 953 00:54:23,960 --> 00:54:25,920 That is so great. That is so great. 954 00:54:26,000 --> 00:54:28,280 I love that. That's just incredible mission, 955 00:54:28,280 --> 00:54:30,040 uniting players around the world. 956 00:54:30,040 --> 00:54:32,360 I'm all about it. In all languages. 957 00:54:32,520 --> 00:54:36,160 Yeah, so Ty, where can, if anyone wants to reach out to you 958 00:54:36,160 --> 00:54:39,240 after listening to this episode or watching it on YouTube, where 959 00:54:39,240 --> 00:54:41,080 can they find you on the socials? 960 00:54:41,560 --> 00:54:45,360 Yeah, Instagram is the only social that I'm on, OK, Too lazy 961 00:54:45,360 --> 00:54:50,040 to do anything else. OK, No, you are you are at Thai 962 00:54:50,040 --> 00:54:56,840 TAE under score Eat, eat under score TI love that that that's 963 00:54:56,840 --> 00:54:58,800 fantastic. Well, thanks. 964 00:54:58,800 --> 00:55:01,640 Thanks for joining me. I really appreciate this. 965 00:55:01,720 --> 00:55:04,200 This is This is. Great, it only took months of 966 00:55:04,200 --> 00:55:06,520 convincing. Months. 967 00:55:06,520 --> 00:55:08,680 Months, he says. What's the name of this? 968 00:55:09,480 --> 00:55:11,360 Guys? Don't forget to like and 969 00:55:11,360 --> 00:55:13,560 subscribe. Please give me comments. 970 00:55:14,000 --> 00:55:17,000 I thrive on that. So I can continue giving you 971 00:55:17,000 --> 00:55:19,800 content. And if you've got an idea for a 972 00:55:19,800 --> 00:55:24,200 topic or you want to join me on the show and just talk about 973 00:55:24,200 --> 00:55:28,440 whatever game you want to talk about, come on, let's do it. 974 00:55:28,440 --> 00:55:32,600 And as always, remember, be kind to each other and let's play 975 00:55:32,600 --> 00:55:33,240 more games.