Monthly Live Q&A - Ask Me Anything - May 2026

2:47 And we are live. Good afternoon, everybody. Thank you very much for joining us for the live Q&A for May 2026. As always, the format of this show will be following the same pattern as we always do, which is that I'm going to be first of all answering all of the questions that I've been asked in advance on the BGG Guild, and then we'll be throwing over to the live questions. So, if you are watching live and you do have any questions for me today, right now, please put them in the chat, but start with the word question, and Vicky will spot those, transfer them to a document, and we'll get to those about roughly halfway through. We generally spend about 45 to 60 minutes going through all of the questions that have been asked in advance first. So, a big thank you to everybody who has asked me those questions in advance. And yes, then we will be um we'll be going through to the live question. So, yeah, if you've got any live questions, put them in the chat now, but I won't get to them for about 45-50 minutes or so. As always, these videos are not sponsored in any way. No publisher has paid me any money for any promotion or anything like that. These are all completely my own opinions, and I'm able to do these thanks to the support of the Patreon campaign. So, a big thank you to all of my patron supporters for funding the channel and helping make these videos possible. If you're wondering what the road to freedom is just below me, and if you're also wondering why that bar has not moved in 6 months, it's because we are on a goal to try and reach 1,400 patron supporters. And at the start of this year, in January, we hit 1,330 ish, and we are still at 1,330 as of today. So, yeah, we uh we will get

4:19 there hopefully at some point. But, if you're interested in helping me get to my goal of 1,400 patron supporters, then uh that bar will will slowly move. Right then, I'm hoping that the um audio is all okay. Yeah? Everything's working fine? Great. Let's head on over to the BGG guild. And if you are watching this video back afterwards, or you are listening to this as a podcast because these do get converted into podcasts in about 1 to 2 days after they've been done, and you're thinking, "How do I ask Paul questions because I can never make it to the live shows?" then on BoardGameGeek guild number 2258, generally a few days before these live Q&As, I always put up a thread asking for questions. And that's what I'm going to be going through now. So, the first question is from Gavin.

5:05 What game mechanism do you think has the most amount of room for new variations in games? As an example, worker placement has gone through a number of different variations, such as worker types, different costs for the number of workers already there, mechanisms around pulling workers back. And Gavin is interested in what other mechanisms I think there is scope for more expansion. The two that come to mind are worker placement and deck building. And to be honest, oh, Loki's just decided to join us. Loki's coming to answer the question. What do you think, Loki? Worker placement, deck building, you coming up? We have a cat invasion on question one. Come here, you. He doesn't like There you go. Right, what do you think? Worker placement?

5:52 Yeah? Deck building? Yeah. Aw, he's so cute. Honestly, it's going to be very difficult for me to answer this question because I mean, I agree with you. Since worker placement was first used in games, it has come a long way and we've got all sorts of different variations on worker placement now. And it's the same with deck building. When deck building was first introduced, it was very simple and now we've got a huge number of iterations on deck building. What game mechanism do I think has the most amount of room for variations? I mean, I'd like to part of me would say I'd like to see more with deck building and more with worker placement. But to be honest, we've already had so many variations of it. I don't know how many more there are.

6:38 There are certain mechanisms that I don't like in games like blind bidding or push your luck or anything like that. So, I'm not going to suggest one of those unless somebody was able to come up with a variation about one of those which means that I might not hate it as much as I currently do. But yeah, it is a good question. I'm just struggling to think of an answer for it because we've already had so much wiggle room in those core mechanisms already and I'm not sure how much more there is left with them. But, you know, these designers are very clever. They are always coming up with new new and interesting ideas. Next question from Benjamin is He says, "Just curious, how would I rank the three nominees for the Board Game Geek Best Heavy Game of last year?" So, for those people who missed it, the nominees are Galactic Cruise, Speakeasy, and Luthier.

7:29 Now, I've played all of these and in fact, I have done sponsored videos on all of these. So, I did a sponsored play-through on Luthier. I've done a sponsored play-through or at least a how to play video for Speakeasy. And I've done all sorts of content for Galactic Cruise, and I will be doing more content for Kinfire Games at some point in future. How would I rate those games? Number one is definitely Galactic Cruise. Out of those three, Galactic Cruise for me is easily the best of those three. The other two I'm not sure about. I'm leaning My my mind is leaning towards Speakeasy, but I haven't played it enough. And there's so much about the game to like. All of the people who give it, you know, loads of credit and love it, and I I get that. And I see that there are huge parts of Speakeasy that I love as a game.

8:24 There are a few parts that I don't like about it. Now, no criticism of the game itself. It's just there are a few parts of it which I'm like, "Ah, don't like that bit that much." Whereas Galactic Cruise, I love every part of it. Lutier, I didn't think I would like as much as I did, and I've only played it a few times, but every time I've played it, I do enjoy it. But I think I'm going to give it to Speakeasy, just. So, yeah, Galactic Cruise definitely, and then both Speakeasy and Lutier are good, but I'd probably give it just to Speakeasy just to get the edge. Now, what you didn't ask me, Benjamin, is do I agree with those three nominees. Because quite often when these awards come out and you see these games get nominated and you're like, "Really?

9:14 I don't agree with that." I actually agree with those three nominations. Both of those three are good games. I was actually surprised to see Lutier in there, but having now played it a couple of times, it actually is quite thinky. Do I have plans to play any of them again on the channel? Honestly, do I have plans to play any of those again on the channel? No. I I don't currently have plans to play any of those. As much as I love Galactic Cruise, and and I talk about this in every single Q&A. So, let let's talk about it now and get it out of the way so that hopefully I don't have to talk about it again, is the reality is, even though this is my full-time job, I don't have as much time as I would like to play games and cover games. And as much as I like Galactic Cruise, and as much as it is very, very high in my top 10 games of the year, if not number one, am I going to carve out time to cover it again on the channel when I've already covered it a number of times? Possibly not. Will I play it offline outside of the channel? Absolutely. Will I play Speakeasy again? Yes, and that may get covered again on the channel, I'm not sure. Will Lootie get covered on the channel again? Unlikely. Even though I like the game, I've got the game, it's staying in my collection, and I will probably play it again, it likely won't get covered on the channel just because there isn't enough time to cover everything.

10:35 Next question from Jonathan. Which parts of Lands of Everlasting and Stone Saga are comparable to other games? So, I've recently covered Lands of Everlasting on the channel, in fact, 2 days ago. If you haven't seen those videos, please head on over and watch those videos. They're all really short. Does Lands of Everlasting and Stone Saga surpass them? So, two Is it one question about two separate games? Lands of Everlasting, what parts of Lands of Everlasting are comparable to other games? And does Lands of Everlasting surpass them? You know, has the Is the game better than the previous ones? And the same question with Stone Saga. So, I've been thinking about this this afternoon. There is no doubt that Lands of Everlasting is of a similar feel to many other games that have come before it in terms of it is fantasy themed, it's its own world, it's lots of narrative, it's choose-your-own-adventure style with choices, but those choices are mixed in with game mechanisms, and there's combat that takes place in it, which unlike Tainted Grail, and I'm mentioning Tainted Grail because it's from the same designer and the same publisher, combat in Tainted Grail was a kind of abstract system where you laid cards in a row, and I liked it. I thought it was interesting. Whereas the combat in Lands of Everlasting is much more traditional.

11:58 Here's a map. Let's move some figures around. Move three, 1 2 3. Do I have line of sight? Yes, I'm going to try and attack him, etc., etc. So, there's lots of games like this. And in fact, since the success of Gloomhaven, which is going back 10 years now, we've had a huge number of these games jumping on the bandwagon of oh, fantasy cooperative. Let's have a bit of combat. Let's have a bit of story. For me, Lands of Everlasting is an amazing game. I love the game. It was always going to be a game which I enjoyed because I love the designer's previous work. I love his world-building. One thing that I was surprised about is compared to some other games, it is very streamlined. So, I think in terms of has it surpassed other games in the genre, bearing in mind I have only played about 8 hours or so of Lands of Everlasting so far, it's really impressed me as to how streamlined the system is, but how the system is able to cope with almost the same mechanism, but for combat as well as other checks, and tells a really interesting story about, you know, well, for so certainly from the bits that I've seen about it, the the story has been good so far. So, I think it has surpassed those games for me. I think Lands of Everlasting is a improvement on some other games in the genre. Certainly when it comes to the combat, it's a lot more streamlined and a lot smoother to run than certain other games.

13:29 That might appeal to some like me. It might not appeal to others. So, if you're looking at your Kingdom Death Monster, Aeon Trespass Odyssey, if you're looking for those players, even to an extent Oathsworn, where you are looking for really detailed, complex combat with loads of things going on, Lands of Everlasting might not be for those people because they might want something a lot more complex. Whereas for me, I love the fact that I was able to get in and start playing it with relatively rules light overhead. The other one is Stone Saga. Does Stone Saga Is there anything in Stone Saga which is comparable to other games? Yes, there is. There's lots of things in Stone Saga which is comparable. But, does it surpass them? I've really enjoyed Stone Saga. My My experience with Stone Stone Saga has been approximately 12 to 15 hours of gameplay so far.

14:23 And I've been really impressed by I I put putting the errata aside, which they are working hard at fixing, and there's a big update coming hopefully today or tomorrow for Stone Saga version 1.3 of the errata, and I know the designer is working really hard on it. But, I found Stone Saga extremely enjoyable, and I felt again that I would prefer to play Stone Saga than some other similar games. But, is anything the same as Stone Saga? And this is where I'm going to look to you for the chat because I'm struggling, although I can see elements of other games in Stone Saga, I don't think Stone Saga is just a re-implementation of an older game. There's lots of things in Stone Saga which are new, which are fresh, and maybe not groundbreaking revolutionary, but certainly make it an enjoyable experience. And again, I was quite impressed by Stone Saga.

15:19 The rules weren't particularly complex, and I liked the fact that it felt streamlined when we were playing it. So, yeah. Let me know what you think. If you're watching live or if you're watching back afterwards, leave me a comment in the video. Lands of Everfade, what do you think that compares to? And also, what was the other one? Stone Saga. What do you think Stone Saga compares to? Right, next question. From Dilwen. This is a good question. This was This was started as a conversation on the Slack channel that I have for my Patreon supporters a couple of days ago. And I said, "Look, we've got the live Q&A coming up on Wednesday. That is a really good question for the live Q&A because I want to answer this question, and I want to share my thoughts on this with other people." Just going to have a cup of tea first. So, Dilwen says, "Beyond the surface, some influencers seem to be getting free games and don't have anything to show for it. Whilst on the other hand, others who are also getting review copies of the games are creating a huge amount of content and rightfully earned both the game and potentially paid sponsorship, i.e. me, thank you very much.

16:25 How do publishers determine who gets review copies of games? So, the fundamental ans- a fundamental question here is, how do publishers determine who gets review copies of games? And the reason why I wanted this asked in the live Q&A is because I wanted to let you know, if you were interested, in how publishers determine it. And the answer is, it really depends. Publishers are a law unto themselves. Some of them have a very open door, and if anybody basically contacts them and says, "I'd like a a review copy of your game, please," they'll say yes. Some are very strict, and it really depends who the publisher is, but how they determine who is entitled to a free copy of their game is up to the publisher.

17:17 It really is up to them. And sometimes they will be making that decision based on marketing. They will be looking at your YouTube channel, and they will be going, "Ooh, Paul's got 60,000 subscribers, and our video is similar to Galactic Cruise, or our game is similar to Galactic Cruise. Let's have a look at his Galactic Cruise video. Oh, it got 35,000 views and 200 comments. Let's send Paul a copy of the game." That That will be what publishers do if they don't know who you are. They will be looking at your channel analytics. Conversely, if you've got a YouTube channel, no disrespect to you if you've got a YouTube channel, and you've got 300 subscribers, and your last video had four views, and one of them was your dog, and you write to Kinson Key Games and say, "I'd like a review copy of Galactic Cruise, please."

18:13 They're not likely to say yes. I mean, I don't know. I don't know. Kinson Key Games might. They might say, "Yeah, that's absolutely fine. You can have a review copy." It really depends on the publisher, and it really depends on a whole bunch of other factors as well. If they are wanting to market their game because there's another print run, they will be more inclined to send copies out because it's going to help them. But if you ask them for a review copy of a game which has been out of print for 2 years, A, they're probably not going to have any left, and B, what's in it for them? Because ultimately, the contact that you will have with the publisher is the marketing person. Their job is marketing, and there is no benefit to sending reviewers copies of games unless there is going to be some kind of return on that.

19:01 So, it really depends. But I wanted to take this opportunity just to address a situation which has happened, and I've seen this happen in the last 2 weeks, and it it upset me and it sickened me that there was a number of negative comments on my unboxing video for Lands of Everfrost, but also on Mark Dainty's video as well. So, Mark Dainty is a good friend of mine. He has his own YouTube channel called Not Board Gaming. If you are not subscribed to Mark's channel, Not Board Gaming on YouTube, please stop what you're doing and go and subscribe to it right now. Mark's right. Mark has been doing his channel for 7 years. He has spent a lot of money and time on building his channel up and building his relationships with publishers over 7 years. He does no sponsored videos.

19:54 He doesn't get paid a penny at all from publishers and he spends a lot of his time creating videos to help publishers, you know, advertise their game. Why does he do that if he's not being paid? Mark is a hobbyist, right? Mark loves the gaming hobby and he creates these videos like many, many people. And Mark has a good relationship with Awaken Realms because he's covered a number of their other games. They have sent him review copies or he's bought them and he's taken his time to create videos, not just unboxing videos, but review videos and all sorts of other things. So, he's put in the time and effort over the 7 years. So, to see the following comment and I'm going to read this out word for word. This is from YouTube user XD Viper 4518. If you are watching this video now, please stop watching.

20:43 And the comment that they left was, "What did you have to do to get Awaken Realms to just send you this review copy? It must be nice to have this level of privilege." Now, I responded to that comment on YouTube because I am one of these people that is unable to let things lie. And I told him to go away and read the dictionary for the definition of the word privilege because as I said on the comments, Mark has worked really hard 7 years building up his channel, building up a relationship with the publisher, and uh to see comments like that from all I can presume is jealous people who are jealous of the fact that Mark got sent this game and they didn't. I I that's it it's disgusting to see. Anyway, go and subscribe to Mark's channel and yeah, that's that's that's all I have to say in it. But to to answer the question, the original question, how do publishers determine who get review copies of games? It really is down to the publisher. And there's another one thing that I want to mention here.

21:45 Jamey Stegmaier gets a lot of criticism from the board game community. But I have to say that the current system that Jamey has for review copies is probably one of the most structured and organized that I've ever seen. He has a definite system for allocating review copies and you can apply. And I'm on a list and once a month I get an email from Jamey to say "These are the games which we are currently offering review copies of. If you would like one of these games for review, please let me know. But if you have previously asked us for a game and you haven't done a review video on it yet, you're not going to get another one." And I like that. Because I don't like it when publishers just blindly send out here's a game, here's a game, here's a game. And they're sending to people and these people are not doing anything. They These people aren't even doing an unboxing video, let alone a review video. And yet they get more and more review copies sent to them. That's that's wrong. And for me, I have stopped I have stopped saying yes to publishers that ask me whether I want a review copy of a game.

23:03 And I get this all the time. I get publishers contacting me saying, "Paul, we'd like to send you a copy of this game. No pressure. You can have it. You don't even need to cover it on the channel." And I say no. And the reason why I say no is because I know exactly what will happen. I will get that game. I'll look at it. I'll go, "This looks pretty." I'll put it on a shelf. And then 3 years later, it will still be on the shelf and I won't have time to play it. And I'll be like, and I'll feel bad. So, I am protecting myself by essentially saying no even from publishers just offering me free copies of games with no strings attached cuz it it's not fair on them. Anyway, have I ranted enough about that? I think I have. So, next question from Ronald. Uh which out-of-print game would you like to see a new edition of?

23:54 And I thought to myself when I saw that question, I'm not going to be able to answer this question. And then I went, "Palais Royale." Or Royal Palace to give it its other name. It is a fantastic game. It's by Xavier Georges, if that's how you pronounce it. The same guy that designed Carnegie. Carnegie, Carnegie, that one. It's a brilliant game. I've got it. It's never leaving my collection. I've got the version which is called Pala Yeah, Palais Royale. But it's also called Royal Palace. And it's just a really good game. And I think it's been out of print for many, many years. Next question from Ronald. Would you like to visit Vancouver in Canada? I mean, I'll say yes because I've never been. So, of course I would like to visit. Um I think we've been invited around to Ronald's house for the week. Staying in his spare room. Brilliant.

24:39 Thank you. Next question from Brian. Brian says, "Both having July birthdays, did having yours in the summer mean that you also missed out on fun celebrations in school as a wee lad?" So, Brian says, "In elementary school here in the US, this is the late '70s {stroke} early '80s, I always got lumped into the pitiful other birthday category. I have no memory of that at all. So, I see what you mean is that your birthday was outside of the school term and therefore I missed out on fun celebrations. No, I I I don't remember that um as a kid. So, yeah, I I'm I'm I'm trying to think back, you know, if you're a you know, high school or whatever it is and it's your birthday, I I don't know. I didn't have many friends when I was at school. I basically played played Dungeons & Dragons with my kids and I was no good at uh with my friends and I was no good at sports or anything like that. So, I only had a few friends at school. I don't think it would have changed anything me having my birthday during school time.

25:44 Next question from Monis IAS, any tips for people coming to GridCon for the first time this year? So, congratulations at getting GridCon tickets. For those people who are interested, GridCon is currently sold out. We are going to be putting a waiting list up in June and people can apply and put their names on the waiting list. There are currently no tickets available, but we always get some cancellations sometimes nearer the time. So, yeah, if you are interested in coming to GridCon, please don't turn up if you don't have a ticket because we are a ticketed only event. But, tips for coming to GridCon for the first time. First of all, then the Slack channel, which is used for patrons supporters, has a GridCon subchannel within Slack. Definitely post on there. My advice, and I know a lot of people don't like to plan games, but my advice is to at least plan your first game of the first day because that way you've got something to do on Friday at 10:00 or 9:30 or whatever.

26:48 By by planning a game, choose a game that you want to play and you can stick it on after game, or you can just talk about it on Slack, and you will find people that will be interested in joining you, and then all of a sudden, right at the start of the convention, you've got a game to play with other people, and it it it can go from there. One thing that makes me and Vicky feel really uncomfortable is when we see people walking around GridCon on their own looking lost, looking like "Oh, I'm not sure what to do. I kind of I want to get into a game, but I don't know how to ask people." And we get that. You know, we're both nervous people. We would feel uncomfortable at going up to a table full of strangers and saying, "Can I join in your game?" So, the games planner allows you to remove that out of the equation because you can just pick a game in advance that you want to play and and take it from there.

27:41 Other than that, there will be lots of people who are there who are super friendly, will be happy to help, and everything else. But, yeah, that would be that would have been my advice. Next question from Davis. Uh have you seen Have you any expressions or phrases which others use incorrectly in everyday speech that really get under your skin? Now, this is a really interesting question. Are there any expressions or phrases which others use incorrectly in everyday speech that really get under your skin? Have you any suggestions for stopping this swelling misuse of across the globe stroke earth stroke world. So, there are certain phrases. I wouldn't say they get under my skin. Of all of the things in life that annoy me, people using incorrect phrases is not something that, you know, really annoys me. But, I do find it interesting when people use phrases which are completely wrong.

28:36 For example, what is the one? "Close the door because otherwise you'll let the cold in." Right. Now, if you're a physicist, that's not true. There is no such thing as letting the cold in, you are letting the heat out. Right. The other one that I find interesting is when something Ah, yeah. Cheaper at half the price. And it's like Yeah, it it it would be cheap if it was half the I think what the phrase is supposed to be is cheaper at twice the price. In other words, when you see something that's cheap and you say, "Ah, it's cheaper at half the price." Well, I it it makes no sense whatsoever. Um I'm interested in hearing what other people think about this. This is a non-game related question, so probably not good for the guild, but good for the comments in this video. Are there any phrases which you know of and if you've got any and you're watching live, put them in the chat.

29:30 Any phrases that you know of that people say in everyday speech which are incorrect phrases? Good question. Good question. I like it. Next question from Cat. Uh Cat says, "Think you're going to get a lot of Stone Saga and Lands of Ever Shade questions this month." I'll jump into the second one. Which do you prefer? I enjoyed both games a lot. I enjoyed Stone Saga a lot more than I was expecting to, but Lands of Ever Shade is more my kind of game for a few reasons. I've spoken about it before. It's the same Well, one of the designers of Lands of Ever Shade is the same designer as ISS Vanguard and Tainted Grail and they are my number one person in the world for world building.

30:16 For the concept of the worlds that they build and the stories that go with them. I think they're absolutely fantastic at it. So, Lands of Ever Shade for me out of the two games is the clear winner of which of those two games do I prefer, but that's not to say that I didn't enjoy Stone Saga, which I which I did a lot. Easy answer. I like that one. Next question from Carl. What games or expansion will you be checking out at UK Games Expo? And what are ones that you've heard of that are in the pipeline or you excited for in the coming months? So, let's talk about UK Games Expo because in the last week there have been at least two or three content creators that have made videos on the top 10 games to look forward to at UK Games Expo. And I want to give a shout-out to another good friend of mine, another Mark, Mark Munk from Ninja Geek Games.

31:08 Again, if you are not subscribed to Ninja Geek Games on YouTube, then head on over to YouTube now. You Ninja Geek Games, go and subscribe, and Mark either has released or is about to release his video on games that are coming out at UK Games Expo. And I gave it a bit of a skin watch this morning. And two of them I'd heard of. And you might be thinking, "Paul, you you work full-time in the industry." Yeah. "And you're going to UK Games Expo." Yeah. "And you are working at UK Games Expo." Yeah. "And yet, you've only heard of two of the 10 games that Mark talked about in his video." And I'm like, "Yeah." This has been the situation with me for the last five or six years. I, generally speaking, do not know what is coming out at UK Games Expo, Gen Con, Essen, or anything like that.

32:05 And that is because I'm already too busy with my own thing. I I don't focus on looking at all of the new games that are being released. You know, I have a huge amount of um respect for Rado. Every year, Rado goes through, I think, pretty much the entire list of every single new game that's coming out at Essen and talks about them. Maybe not every single one, but he he puts a huge amount of time and effort into researching. And he's not the only one, lots of other people do this, researching all of the new games that are coming out, trying to work out whether they're going to be for him or not, etc. etc. That is not something which is important to me. I don't have time to do that. And also, yeah, it's just not that that that's not kind of what I do.

32:54 So, with that in mind, going back to Carl's question of what games or expansions will you be checking out or getting at the UK Games Expo, literally nothing. I will not be buying anything at UK Games Expo, and I will not be walking around and looking at anything that's on offer other than things that I've already planned. Now, the things that I've already planned, let me go through those. And the reason why I have planned these is because I am going to be producing content on these games at some point in future. And that's where I am with my life, hobby, career. And this this has been, as I say, for the for like the last five or six years. Walking around UK Games Expo to see what games are coming out and to possibly get demos from publishers and have a look and have a browse, I don't do that anymore. The only games that I'm going to specifically go and see are because I've already had an agreement with the publisher that I'm going to be covering this on the channel. And therefore, I'm going to see it to get a look at the game. So, I'm going to go and get a demo of Whisperwood, which is a new game that's coming out from Card Board Alchemy. So, I will I will be playing that at some point over the weekend. I'm also going to be getting a demo of Ringyo, the new game from Paverson Games. So, I'm going to be covering that one. In fact, I'm covering that one on the Friday after UK Games Expo. So, I'm going to UK Games Expo, I'm getting a demo of it, I'm then picking up a prototype copy of

34:25 the game on the Sunday, I'm bringing it home, I'm doing a video on it like five days later, and then I've got to send that copy onto another content creator. So, yeah, Ringel from Paverson Games. Uh what was the first one I mentioned? Whisper Wood from Cardboard Alchemy. I'm also going to have a look at Terraria, the board game, and also Cult of the Lamb, because I've been speaking to them about producing videos for for them at some point in future later on. And I'm going to be demoing World Order. So, I'm it it would be wrong for me not to mention World Order, because I they are paying me to work at their booth over the weekend, but it's not one that I'm going to check out, because um yeah, I'm I'm I'm there working. The other ones as well are the new games from Czech Games Edition. So, Drillers. Again, I'm not going to go to the CGE booth and get a demo of it, because I've already agreed with them some coverage of the game, and they're sending it me, and I've already got time booked out in July to learn it.

35:24 So, Drill if if I was just a punter going to UK Games Expo, Drillers would definitely be a game that I'm going to be looking at. And anything else new that CGE have on display. I I know some secrets of what CGE are going to be doing later on this year. I don't know whether they're going to be doing any sneak previews of their new stuff at UK Games Expo. So, hopefully that answers the question. Next question from Sabine. As a as board games evolved quite a lot over the last 25 years, what games would come into your mind as being milestones in that evolution? For instance, and I was about to say Dominion. For instance, uh games that introduced a new mechanism, such as Dominion with regards to deck building.

36:13 So, yeah, 25 years, games have evolved massively. And I was a gamer 25 years ago, so I was there at UK board game conventions playing games 25 years ago. It's evolved massively in in 25 years. So, what milestone games have we got? This is going to be a question for the guild. So, I'm going to answer this a little bit now myself, but this is a question which I think should be part of the guild cuz I do want to know what other people think. And if you're watching this live or you're watching it back afterwards, leave me a comment. Let me know. We're talking milestone games here. We're talking ones which are not just very good games, but games which brought something completely new. So, going back more than 25 years, we have Magic: The Gathering. Now, Magic: The Gathering is not a board game. It is a card game, but it transformed the hobby for a number of reasons. We also had Dominion with deck building, one of my favorite mechanisms. We've still got deck building and referring back to the earlier question from Gavin, deck building has been iterated upon so many times now and it's been used in so many different clever ways.

37:24 Um yeah, deck building has been fantastic. We also had worker placement. Worker placement, the first game that properly used worker placement, which was Keyflower by Richard Breese, I believe. I think that was the game that actually did worker placement. And some people have told me that StarCraft: The Board Game actually did deck building before Dominion, but it was such a small part of the game. Gloomhaven. I think for me, Gloomhaven was also a massive impact on the hobby. I think since Gloomhaven, we have had a number of other big fantasy cooperative campaign-driven games that may not have existed before Gloomhaven kind of arrived and and did that. And again, we had those games beforehand, but Gloomhaven showed how it it could be done. So, yeah, let us know what you think about games over the last 25 years which you would say have been a milestone.

38:19 Games that have had a a massive impact. Possibly terraforming Mars as well, but maybe not because it did anything new. It was just big and popular, whereas I think Gloomhaven did do something new. Next question from Sabine. Sabine says, "If I remember correctly, you are suggesting July 1st as the International Day of Unplayed Games." I am. I haven't really promoted it yet, but was I aware that July 1st is Canada Day? Or is it a lucky coincidence for the people of Canadia? Uh cuz you'll always have the day off work and therefore you'll have plenty of time to play. I did not know it was Canada Day. So, I'm actually going to be posting about this to my supporters later on tonight. Is should I move International Unplayed Games Day, which again, I haven't announced, I haven't got any publishers on board yet. Should I move it to June 30th? Or should we keep it on July 1st and have it the same day as Canada Day? To me, it it doesn't matter where it is as long as it's around that time. So, I will be asking for other people's opinions. And if you don't know what International Unplayed Games Day is, watch this space. It's a thing which I've started and basically the idea is that I pick one day a year and everybody around the world gets a game off their shelf that they haven't played and plays it. And it's to try and combat everybody's shelf of shame, everybody's growing games that they haven't played yet. I mean, it

39:49 won't fix anything. It won't fix everything, but it it'll be it'll be at least a step in the right direction. So, yeah, let me know what you think. Let me know whether you think it should be June the 30th or it should be July the 1st. Next question from Avron. Unrelated to games, do I happen to live You okay? Do I happen to live near any of the castles in Britain? And if so, have we visited any of them? I mean, Creech Castle. So, Creech Castle is in Taunton. It says Creech Castle on the side. Therefore, it's a castle. No, it's not a castle, apparently. I would I would say the answer to that is no. Vicky is going to look up where is the nearest castle to us.

40:37 We've been to Tintagel, which is quite far away and is not really a castle anymore, but probably was at some point. So, yeah. Um have we visited any of them? If so, I don't think we have. Oh, I've not been to a castle for a very long time. Uh Vicky's saying that she's been to Dunster. Oh, Dunster Castle. So, there is an actual castle in Dunster and we have both been there. Yeah, okay. But, yeah, I don't know if there's any nearby. Okehampton, apparently. Is there a castle in Okehampton? Okay, maybe there is. Deborah says there's a castle in Okehampton. The nearest castle to Cullompton are Is this AI? Okay, so according to AI, the nearest castle to Cullompton is in Egypt. No? Historic medieval fortresses offering a great mix of ruins and lived-in estates.

41:23 Tiverton. Okay, there's one in Tiverton, which we've been to. No? Where did we go to in Tiverton? Oh, Knightshayes. It's not a castle. Okay, so there's a castle in Tiverton. I've not been. We need to go to Tiverton. We need to go to Tiverton Castle. Right, next question from Jake. Jake says, we have just started a board game YouTube channel and he's not posting here to get attention, but I'm going to give you the name of his channel. It's called In the Board Game Room and they do rules videos for games as well as time-lapse plays, setups, pack-ups, and short. Right, I'll go and subscribe to that later on. What would you want to see from a new board games YouTube channel? Are there any particular games that you think should be covered? Honestly, my time to watch board games channels is very limited. The only videos that I've been watching recently are Asaf's from Easy Board Games. He's done a whole lot of videos on Lands of Evershade. I've been watching those when I've been at the gym.

42:17 I've mentioned that I watch videos from Mark Monk and Mark Dainty and Luke Hector and various other people who are friends of mine and I support them and they support me. So, I will occasionally watch videos from them, but honestly my time to watch videos is very minimal. It is literally just the 30 minutes every other day that I will spend at the gym. And I also have audiobooks I listen to. I can't watch any videos while I'm doing any kind of work at home. So, yeah, I don't get much. In terms of what would I want to see from a new board game channel? I want to see what you want to do. I think it's really important in the YouTube space for you to do what you want to do rather than you do what you think other people want to see.

43:02 It all depends on what your motivations are going into it. If you go into it with a business head on and say, "Right, I'm going to create a YouTube channel. We're going to get a million views a per video and we're going to give up our jobs and we're going to live off the YouTube advertising." Then you need to be going into it with specific things in mind that are going to be things that people want to see. Whereas if you go into it with "Actually, I really enjoy teaching people how to play games. So, I'm going to do videos on teaching people how to play games." Good luck with it. It's really hard. A lot of content creators don't manage to make a success out of it and a lot of content creators also don't get the recognition that they deserve no matter how good their videos are. So, yeah, good luck with that.

43:47 Next question from Jesper. In the never-ending pursuit of combinations of the best Eurogame publisher, Spiel Lunch Spiel, and the best board gaming content creator, Mr. Grogan, I have news and questions. So, this is from Jesper. First question is, "At Spiel 2026, Spiel Lunch will release a game called Greenwood. We can even download the German rulebook from their page right now. The German rulebook is 32 dense pages long. German is my third language, so that rulebook is too much for me to grok right now. I remember in 2024, you played a prototype version of Black Forest at UK Games Expo. So, the question is, have I made any arrangements with Fieland Spiel this year's UK Games Expo for them to show me their newest stuff? And the simple answer to that is no. I have been contacting Fieland Spiel uh regularly about covering The Danes, the new stuff coming from Feudum.

44:48 I This is the first time I've heard about Greenwood. So, yeah, I I have no idea about this game, and I've not had any contact with them about it, and I'm not in any I don't have any arrangements to cover anything at UK Games Expo. Second question. Frank from Fieland Spiel has said on BGG that the rulebook for The Danes will be uploaded at some point in June, and they are starting their crowdfunding campaign in October. He also mentions that The Danes will have different variants. Six-round game, eight-round game, and a quicker version with 11 Vikings compared to the longer version with 12. I read somewhere that you were concerned if the game will be too long to play. I I may have said that, I can't remember. The question is, have you made any arrangements of doing a playthrough video for The Danes with Fieland? I I love to, right? And like I said, I have contacted them multiple times about it, and they have promised me that they will let me know if they want me to do any videos. And I've said to them, "Don't wait too long, because I am booked up three or four months in advance." And I I haven't heard from them yet. So, honestly, I have a good relationship with them, but I think I've already crossed over the line on how many times I contact them and remind them that I really want to cover this game.

46:07 So, I'm slightly disappointed being honest based on how many times I've contacted them that they haven't contacted me yet. So, you never know. They might have sent me an email and it might have gone to my junk, but I really want to cover that game. Side note, this is this is also from Jesper. Side note, I am following the legacy of Mars campaign and many people have asked the designers for play-through videos on the Gamefound page. Halfway through the campaign, right now there we are halfway through the campaign and there are zero play-through videos. And Jesper is saying it it feels strange to save money when their brand is so huge and there are many potential buyers. So, my answer to that is first of all, I I don't think the designers know who I am or have ever heard of me. So, they haven't contacted me to approach me for a play-through video.

47:04 I love Terraforming Mars. It may even be a top 10 game for me. If it's not, it's a top 20 game. I love love love the game. But, they haven't reached out to me to ask me to do any play-through videos. So, that's why I haven't done any. Second, it's a legacy game. And I can see why they might not want any play-through videos of the game because they want to avoid spoilers. So, I I it it might have been a deliberate marketing decision to not have any play-through videos. Also, just to flip your last sentence on its head, you're saying that it seems a strange place to save money when their brand is so huge and they've got the money, why are they not spending it?

47:52 Their brand is so huge that this game is going to do exceptionally well that they don't need to pay any content creators for any playthrough videos. So, yeah, they may I know and I've spoken to many publishers in the past who say, "We do well enough without any videos. We don't need to pay anybody to make videos on our games because we're already big, we're already popular enough. We don't need it." So, yeah. I'd love to. I'll tell you what, if they contacted me and says, "Paul, we've heard you like Terraforming Mars. We've watched a couple of your videos and we like your style. We'd like you to do a video on Legacy of Mars." I I would be looking at potentially saying yes, putting aside the issues around the the game at the moment. Um because as I say, I do love Terraforming Mars. But, we will see. We will see.

48:38 Right, next question from Brian. Moving on from all of this board game fluff and onto more important topics. Now, just so you know, Brian is going to start talking about a very sensitive subject right now. So, anybody who is stood up, I think it is safe for you to sit down right now just in case that the news that I'm about to tell you comes as a bit of a shock. This week, it's been announced that then it it's appeared in shops. There is actually a digestive biscuit and Jaffa Cake hybrid that's just been released. And various people from around the world have been sending me photos and said, "Paul, did you know about this?" And I'm like, "Yes, you're the 57th person to have sent me this." On a scale of 1 to 10, how excited are you by the news that there is a digestive and Jaffa Cake hybrid that's just been released?

49:30 Probably a a seven or an eight. Now, if it was Hobnob and Jaffa Cake, it would be an 11 out of 10. So, yes. I'm definitely going to be getting some of those. I haven't got any yet and I haven't tried them yet, but I'm very curious. Second question from Brian. How well do you think the new biscuit will dunk compared to the classic digestive and the Jaffa Cake, which scientists reckon is the ultimate dunker? And would you consider live streaming a three-way comparison? I'll tell you what, Brian. Yeah, we can do that. If if my patron supporters want to see it, we can do that. We can have a private This won't be on the public channel, but I can do a private live stream where we do the dunk test. And if you don't know what the dunk test is, it's literally getting the biscuit, dunking it in for a specific period of time, and then pulling it out and seeing if it collapses.

50:23 Maybe it's a British thing. I don't know. Yeah, we'll do that. So, yeah, let's do Let's do that. I'll tell you what, shall we do that on my birthday week off? So, the first week in July I'll be taking the week off work and I'll be doing some videos and we will do a three-way comparison live stream of dunking of biscuits. Question three from Brian. Are there any other biscuity cakey combos that you would like to see irrespective of their dunkability? Oh gosh. I mean, anything with peanut butter. Yeah, basically anything with chocolate, peanut butter, just mix it all together. That's good for me. Right, you can stand up now. There's no more shocking news. Next question from Neil. Tangentially following on from the above. Uh-oh, we've got more biscuit-related questions.

51:09 Given that there's always a seemingly endless supply of questions people would like your opinion on, have you considered doing two Q&As each month? One for board games and one for other things mostly to do with Jaffa Cakes. I haven't. Now, these Q&As do sometimes stretch to two hours and by the end of the two hours I'm absolutely wiped and exhausted and then I have to skip doing whatever I've planned to do in the evening cuz I'm so tired. But to be honest, it doing two a month would mean that each one was shorter, but I think it would be difficult for the audience to not answer not ask board game-related questions in the non-boardgame-related one and and vice versa. Also, there's quite a lot of admin and planning time that goes into each video. So, planning it, putting it on the schedule, putting time aside, creating the thumbnails, all of that. So, doing it once a month feels enough.

52:03 Uh Neil says, "It would also mean that when I think of a great question at the start of next month, there would be less chance of you forgetting it before the next one." That's That's a good point. Good point. Right, Frank has got four questions. So, I'm going to have a cup of tea. Frank says, "Regarding your how-to play videos, how has the way that you structure, present, and explain the rules changed over the last few years since you started making them?" So, my first how-to play video that I did was 12 years ago, if not more, maybe 13 years ago now. Now, Frank is asking, "How has it changed over the last few years?" It hasn't. My process for creating how-to play videos, which I think I went into detail of last month or the month before, it's not changed for about five or six years. I used to create very different types of videos. They were always how-to play videos, but I used to follow different methods, different styles. I used to do lots of digital animations. I used to do just overviews.

53:00 I've tried all sorts of different methods, but the one that I do use now, as I said, using this like 14-step process, that's the one that I've been using for probably, I don't know, six, seven, eight years now. So, yeah, that hasn't changed at all. I I script it. I learn the game. I script it. I do all of the still images. I then edit it together. I then send a copy of that to the publisher, and then the very, very last thing I do is film the bit with me on camera. Um yeah. Next question from Frank. GridCon 7. GridCon 7 is coming up. "What feedback have we received about the way that we organized the ticket allocation? Have we been able to achieve greater synergies in the organization given that you've already organized six events? So, for the first question is what feedback have we received about the way that we organized the ticket collection? It's been overwhelmingly supportive and positive. So, huge thank you to everybody who made us feel really comfortable with the way that we allocated the tickets here because we've had some issues in the past and a lot of people have been very supportive when we were having website issues and the system that we've now used for allocating tickets.

54:18 A lot of people missed out initially but have now got tickets. But, they were like, "Look, we voted on it. We said it was fair. I randomly came at the bottom of the list and I didn't get a ticket, but that's just the way it is." So, even the people that missed out on getting tickets initially, as I say, they all now I think almost all have tickets and they were all very positive and understanding about it. So, yeah. And to be honest, we're probably going to use the same system next year. Have you been able to achieve greater synergies in the organization given you've already organized six events? Yeah, absolutely. Every year we improve on little things here and there. Uh there were a couple of things last year that didn't go to plan and we've now got things in place to make those things better. So, people always say to us, "Oh, it looks like you've got this event really well organized and it's really smooth and it's really efficient." And there are parts of it that do run like this precise military operation and that's great to see. But, that's only because we do have we we spend a lot of time planning and we do have the help from people that contribute to it being a success.

55:27 Next question from Frank, "What is it about Lands of Everlasting that has made it your most anticipated game of the year?" Yeah, so Lands of Everlasting was my number one most anticipated game of the year. Why is it no longer my most one number one most anticipated? Cuz I've got it and I played it and therefore, technically, it can no longer be my most anticipated game because I've now got it. So, Frankie's asking, "Why was it my number one most anticipated game?" And we've touched on this earlier on when I spoke about it. My previous two favorite narrative-driven adventure-style board games was Tainted Grail ISS Vanguard.

56:12 Both of them from the same designer. The world-building, the story, the narrative, the immersion, second to none. And Lands of Everlasting is his next game. It's as simple as that. And I got a demo of it at Essen 2024 and I was like, I cannot wait for this game to come out. The game I just from a short demo, I went, "Oh my god, this is going to be absolutely amazing." And it turns out that it is. And I'll I'll be absolutely honest with you here. Lands of Everlasting is very likely, despite the fact that I've only played it for about 8 hours, right now, my top five of all time. It's It's that good. Now, once I've played through the rest of the adventures, there is a chance which I stop enjoying it, but from what I've heard from people who've played the rest of the adventures, I've just got more good stuff to look forward to. So, yeah, I can't see it disappointing. Um it it is that good. But yeah, it's based on the designer's pedigree. It's simple as that.

57:10 How would you estimate the playing time for Lands of Everlasting given that BoardGameGeek lists it as 90 to 270 minutes? And thanks for your videos on it. No problem, Frank. Thank you for watching. Um The The play time is interesting because the game is a campaign game, but you save it at various points. So, the play time of 90 to 270 minutes, it should just be 90 minutes plus. I think the minimum amount of time it would take you to get everything out and play what I'm calling one episode, one part of the game, save it and put it away is probably about 90 minutes. But, you play as long as you want. So, the 270 minutes is is rubbish. You could literally sit down if you wanted to and play an entire adventure in one go without sleeping. It would take you about 15 to 18 hours, so I wouldn't recommend it, but you could do that. So, it's basically it's 90 minutes per session, but most of the time people will probably play for 2 and 1/2 to 3 hours and get in, you know, a few parts of the game.

58:17 Finally, question from Frank, you wrote on Slack that you were disappointed that no follow-up videos had been commissioned for World Order. To what extent does something like that affect you personally because you always do a brilliant job. Thank you, Frank. Um so, just to clarify, I'm not disappointed that there are no follow-up videos commissioned for World Order. If I If I gave that impression, that is that is um my fault and I'm sorry for that. So, no, I'm I'm not disappointed in any way that there is no follow-up videos for World Order. I did a video for them during the crowdfunding campaign. I did a play-through video for them, the same as I did for Hegemony. And they have not come back to me and said, "Paul, we'd like you to do a proper full how-to-play video." And that's fine. I'm I'm not disappointed by that. I wasn't expecting that. And to be honest, if they did ask me now, I can't fit that in probably this year, to be honest. So, no, I'm not disappointed whatsoever that they haven't asked me to do any more videos on it. I'm hoping that they will ask me to do a video on whatever their next game is cuz I do have a a good relationship with them and I'm going going working with them at UK Games Expo, demoing World Order this year.

59:30 Right, last few questions. First one from Brow, what games are you excited to play in the next couple of weeks? Well, on Friday, I'm off to the Netherlands for a private gaming event hosted by David Turczi and his wife, where I am going to be getting to play lots of games that I can't talk about. There are some games that I can talk about. I'm going to be playing World Order twice. I'm going to be playing War of the Ring with Asaf, which is going to be fantastic. So, I'm really excited about that. But, there are other games that I'm going to be playing that weekend that I can't talk about because they are in playtesting, development, and I'm involved in those games. And yeah, they're they're all top secret at the moment. Other than that, what else am I looking forward to playing in the next couple of weeks? Well, I mentioned the ones at UK Games Expo. So, I mentioned Whis- Whisper Wood, not Whis- Wood, Whisper Wood.

1:00:21 And also Ringyo. I'm looking forward to those. I don't really know that much about them, so I can't I you know, being absolutely honest with you, I can't say, "Oh, I'm really excited about looking forward to this." I don't know much about these games yet. I will be finding out more at UK Games Expo. Also asking, "What do you play in your free time?" I could If you can tell me what free time is, uh I I I mean, to be fair, we played Agamemnon on Sunday, so you could class that as my free time. But, yeah, honestly, I don't get any free time to play games other than we will meet up every two or three weeks and we'll play Agamemnon on a Sunday, and I will be going to a games club every other Thursday, and I will play games there. In fact, it's the club tomorrow night, but we're out at the theater, so I can't make it this week.

1:01:07 Uh Brow says, "I'm especially interested to know the ones that you're not doing any playthroughs of." So, I think what you're asking is, what games do I play for myself that I enjoy playing which you don't see because I'm not here at home. So, Agamemnon is definitely one of them that you don't see any videos for Agamemnon even though we've been playing it every 2 or 3 weeks for the last 2 years now. We we we've just completed scenario 30? 29? 27? 28? 29? Anyway, yeah, we've done a lot. We've played it a lot in the last couple of years. Um any chance of a new Settlers play through? At the moment, no. I love the game. I think the game is great. But again, it's just, you know, fitting it in along with everything else. Uh Brown also says, "Last weekend I played Clash of Cultures after a long time, which reminded me it was the game that got me into my channel a couple of years ago.

1:01:57 Thank you very much for that. And I am in discussion with WizKids about covering Clash of Cultures again on the channel because it's been announced that it's getting a new expansion this year. And Clash of Cultures, I think is a fantastic game, and I want to go back to it. I really do want to go back to it because the last time I played it, it was a bit over my head with the complexity of the game. And so many people have said how the game is so good. And it is a good game, and I kind of want to go back to it and relearn it, give it a bit more time, and also cover the new expansion. Next question from Blaine. Which captain in Star Trek Captain's Chair, including expansions, so there are currently 15 captains that I have, which is my favorite one to play and why? Well, the thing with Star Trek Captain's Chair is the all of the captains play in a very different way. And and I I spoke about this to my patron supporters at the end of a previous pre-recorded video, which this will never go public, but essentially at least three-quarters of the captains that I've played are a little bit, and in some cases a lot, outside my comfort zone. Now, this is not to say that the game is not a great game. The game is a great game.

1:03:19 The designers done a fantastic job with it and the captains all play very differently and some of them are really interesting in the way that they play. However, me, my tolerance for being able to understand high levels of complexity is is lower, I would say, than most. Love the game, love playing it. But, some of the captains that I have played have been too complex for my brain to handle and therefore, whilst in one way I'm enjoying it cuz I'm playing the game and this is great and look at all of this stuff that I'm doing and on the other hand, my brain is going, "You are literally about to explode, all right? You cannot take this anymore."

1:04:04 And it gets to a point where the decision space is so high, my brain shuts down. So, based on that, I like playing the low complexity captains. So, I've enjoyed playing Picard, I've enjoyed playing Shran. Out of the new ones, I've enjoyed playing Georgiou because it's it's it's a bit simpler and I think I enjoyed playing Soval as well. Now, these captains are not as interesting as some of the other ones. The Riker deck, the Pike deck, they're all really interesting and and they do really weird stuff. But, having played them eight to 10 times, I know the effect it had on me and my brain just not being able to play it as well as I I should be able to play with it. So, yeah, for me, I prefer playing low complexity captains.

1:04:53 Next question from Keith. If you and Vicky have a car journey, is there one type of media that you tend to listen to? Radio, music, talk, local national stations, podcasts, sat navs, CD tapes. Keith Keith old tapes. The So, for those people who don't don't what a cassette tape is, go and look it up. Um even CDs now, cars don't come with CD players anymore. So, if me and Vicky have a car journey, we will tend to the last few times that we've done it, we will find an audio book that we both want to listen to and we'll listen to it. So, I'm thinking it was those ones in the red, in the black. It was a It was a radio play. It was a radio dramatization and there was three of them and it was about a policeman.

1:05:39 One of them was definitely called in the red. And we've listened to all of them now, I think. But things like that. So, maybe not audio book, because an audio book is probably, you know, 15 to 25 hours. This was like a six-part radio series. Each episode was about um Mark Tavener. That's it. It's come to me. Mark Tavener. Um they were good. If If you're interested, I don't know if they are available in the public domain, but yeah, it was um three of them by Mark Tavener and one of them was definitely called in the red, he says. Right, final question from Bart before we have a small break. Bart is asking me to settle a debate. Is a polyomino game a subset of a tile-laying game or a separate genre entirely?

1:06:24 It's up to you. I I can't answer that question. Let me know in the chat. So, in the chat right now, we're going to do a vote. In fact, we can do this I can do this as an actual vote. Kind of like I've never ever done this in a Q&A. How do I do it? Plus. Start a poll. Right, so the question is, is a poly I spelled it with two Ls. Polyomino game a subset of a tile- laying game or its own category. Right, so the answer is yes, subset, All right, hang on. There's going to be a poll. It's going to appear any minute now or no, it's own thing.

1:07:17 Right, the poll is running. So, you can vote now on whether you think that a polyomino game is a subset of tile laying or it's a separate genre entirely. We will close that poll at the end of the stream and we will announce the results. So, that is the end of all of the questions that I've been asked in advance on the BGG. Thank you very much to everybody who's asked those. We're going to take short break now and we're going to give you the results of the contest. So, for those of you that are watching this for the first time and don't know, every month as part of these live Q&A's, I give away either £50 or £75 of games vouchers from Games Lore. Now, out of that, £25 of that comes from Games Lore themselves and the rest of the money is made up by me.

1:08:09 Entering the contest is really easy and doesn't cost you anything. All you need to do is click on the link, which is going in the chat right now, and it's also in the description of this video. Can you just check to see if it's in the description of the video? And that's it. All you need to do, click on the link and it will ask you for your name, your email address, which I will use to contact you, and what is the secret word? And the secret word this week is scissors. Just cuz there's a pair of scissors on the table in front of me. There you go. Scissors is the secret word for this week. It's not going to cost you anything and you could win 50 or 75 pounds of games vouchers. How do I determine whether it's £50 or £75? If you are one of my patron supporters and you win, you get £75. I give you another £25 of my money. If you're not a patron supporter, you can still win, but you only win £50 of games vouchers.

1:09:03 So, good luck to everybody who enters the contest. We had a lot of people enter last month, and the winner is Sabine, who asked a question this month. So, if you are listening to this, Sabine, I have sent you an email. I have sent you a Slack message. Sabine is one of my patron supporters, so they have won £75 worth of games vouchers. So, big thank you to Games Lore, the UK's largest specialist games retailer. Games Lore will be at UK Games Expo. If you want to pre-order anything from them or head on over there, and also part of Games Lore, or a separate part of Games Lore, is the Board Game Gal's Basement. They basically take a lot of games which are like slightly dented, and they sell them off cheap. And last year was the first year they were at UK Games Expo, and they said it was really popular. They did loads of sales. Lots of people were happy to pay, you know, a cheap price for something that's slightly dented. Um they're not paying me to say anything. I am very good friends with Paul, who organizes and and owns Games Lore, so I'm want to give him a shout-out.

1:10:03 Right, other than that, let's head on over to the live questions. So, these are ones that I've not seen yet, and I've had no time to prepare for. The first one is from Zach. Uh-oh. Controversy time. What are your thoughts on the Board Game Geek advertising manager debacle? I love that word. From this night stroke this morning. Last night stroke this morning. So, yeah, for those people who don't know, something happened during the night. By the time I'd got up and had read through all of the posts on Reddit and Board Game Geek and everything else, it had all resolved itself. I will give you a short summary of what happened here. So, Board Game Geek has options where you can buy adverts on the site for your games.

1:10:54 Especially if you are doing a crowdfunding campaign, and this is used by a lot of publishers, and there's nothing wrong with this. It's absolutely fine. BoardGameGeek is a business. They need to make money. And they make money by publishers who have got games coming to crowdfunding buying adverts on their page, and those adverts will run for a certain time. Ideally, at the time when their crowdfunding campaign is live, so that you see it and you go, "Ooh, what's that?" And you click on it, and it'll take you to the campaign. But, that's how it works, and there's no problem with that. Now, the way that publishers ask for their adverts to appear is they contact BoardGameGeek, and they say, "We'd like to buy advertising for our game for this price, for this time, this date to this date, etc., etc." And there's one publisher who had a game, and they contacted BoardGameGeek about these adverts, and they didn't hear anything back.

1:11:51 And the publisher was getting a little bit concerned because he was getting close to when they were about to launch on crowdfunding, and they hadn't had any reply from BoardGameGeek. So, they chased it up and said, "Just checking, did you receive the message because we're getting close to the day where we're about to go live. Uh you know, are are you able to let us know?" And the reply that they got back, and I'm I'm going to summarize here, but I would recommend going and reading it because I read it, and it it shocked me. Because the reply that they got back was a big, big, long message heavily focused on religion, and about the reasons why the person from BoardGameGeek, who, as of 5:00 this morning, or as of whatever time this morning, no longer works for BoardGameGeek, basically said, "We're not going to show adverts for your game, and here's all the reasons why." And I I read that message and I I know and I was shocked.

1:12:54 So, ultimately, the internet exploded. The Reddit thread is hilarious because it's Reddit and there's loads of amusing things in here. That person who replied no longer works for BoardGameGeek. So, the controversy is over. Somebody did something that they shouldn't do and 5 hours later BoardGameGeek fired them. And and that that is it. So, Vicky said to me before we went live, "Is this really be a controversy?" And I'm like, "Well, no. This is just some person who did something very very wrong and he's now been fired from their job. So, for all of those people who jump on the bandwagon and say, "Oh, yeah, BGG this, BGG that." Okay, right. One person at BGG did something very very wrong and has lost their job because of it. That is the only outcome.

1:13:45 It's the right outcome and BGG responded quite quite quickly. Now, I do want to say something about this myself because I actually have my own thoughts on this. And I've spoken about this a little bit in the past and it is my view on when religious beliefs actually start having the wrong effect. So, I'm I'm all for anybody and any religious beliefs they have. Wh- Whatever your religious beliefs are, I respect them. I I I don't care whether you choose this god or this god or these gods or or whatever. Whatever your religious beliefs are, I support you. I respect you. You've got yours, I've got mine, he's got his.

1:14:34 We're all different, right? That's fine. But, when I've got a job to do or when somebody else has a job to do and they use their religious beliefs as a Uh, you've got to read the response. It It's really hard for me to try and explain. Basically, they said, "We're not going to show your game." And then they went into a whole load of religious stuff which was completely a personal opinion and doesn't should never have appeared. If that person is working as a marketing manager stroke customer service stroke whatever for a company, it's like me working at a fish and chip shop, right? Let Let's really really silly example here. I work at a fish and chip shop and somebody comes in to buy fish and chips and they're wearing a red hat. And they say, "I would like two portions of fish and chips, please."

1:15:40 If my religious beliefs are that anybody who wears red is evil, then I still have to do my job and I have to serve them fish and chips. That's my job. I am there. I am paid to serve fish and chips. Just because somebody's wearing a red hat and I believe a red hat means something else, I still have to do my job. It would be very wrong of me to sit down with that person and say, "Look, you're wearing a red hat. Do you realize that wearing a red And And that's effectively what what happened." So, anyway, that's my um that's my thoughts on on that. And as I say, I think Scott from BGG, who's the guy who runs everything, they reacted. It's It's all gone. That That person no longer works for BoardGameGeek. You know, I don't think there'll be any more fallout. I think anybody who reads the posts, this isn't one of those controversies where there's going to be people on one side of the fence and people on the other side of the fence. I think the general feedback that I've seen from literally everybody are this person was wrong to do that and has now lost their job about it. Right.

1:16:49 Moving on. I'm going to close the poll at the end at the at the end. Right. So, what do I think is the hardest part of running a crowdfunding campaign for independent publishers, non-corporate giants? What do I think is the hardest part of running a crowdfunding campaign? Getting eyes on your project. I I think that's it. I mean, I see this all of the time. I see what could be great games going on crowdfunding campaigns that struggle, that get nowhere. And at the same time, I see terrible games. And I say terrible games, I don't know that they're terrible games at the time, but then 3 years later when that game comes out and the rulebook is one of the worst rulebooks ever, the game does not work whatsoever, and yet they raised 2 million because they had fancy artwork and fancy miniatures.

1:17:46 You see that all the time. And and and yeah, try not to get too angry, Paul. Calm down. Um so, what's the hardest part of running a crowdfunding campaign for independent publishers is simply competing with a space which is so open. It's so big. The board game hobby is so immense. I would never want to do it. I I I could never, you know, spend like a year, 2 years designing a game and then going on crowdfunding and finding that I've got 75 backers. I It's It's just Yeah, I could I couldn't I couldn't take that. So, I think that is the hardest thing. I don't ever want to do it myself. I don't ever want to work as a marketing person in a company. Um yeah, I I I think it's that. That That's what I would say is the hardest part of run of running a crowdfunding campaign is is is trying to get eyes on your project and trying to find your target audience, especially when your game is good.

1:18:44 Next question from T. Dorit, what happens during the 2 minutes before the live stream starts? Panic. Generally, panic. Have Is this right? Vicky's going downstairs making me a cup of tea? Have I done my eyebrows? Yeah, we try to get the countdown running at 5:00, but then as the countdown's running, suddenly we've got all of these other things. Oh, have I turned the microphone on? You know, all of these other things. So, yeah, the 2 minutes beforehand is basically um is a mad panic just before we go live. Next question from the Sweepals, where will you vacation this year? We don't have any plans um for this year. So, we we've got we've got thoughts on next year, one of which is 99% sure it's going to happen. We're going to be going to Iceland. There is a convention, there is a board game convention um organized by friend of ours and patron supporter Hilmar, and we're going to be going to that next year. Now, Vicky's not really a gamer, so the plan is we're going to either holiday before and then I go to the convention, or I go to the convention and then we holiday afterwards. So, it's kind of Vicky's already been to Iceland, I've not, but we're combining holiday stroke board game event. We've also talked about potentially going to Japan, but to be honest, we um we don't prioritize holidays as much as we should because that we've always got so many things going on at home. We

1:20:15 a lot of the time we don't have the brain space to think about it, and yeah, time just disappears. Next question from Looting Rakunk, when you're teaching at conventions, e.g. UK Games Expo, do you ever wish that a hot mug of tea or a fizzy can of your favorite fancy were around and potentially brought to you. Um Potentially, yes. Um Yeah, are you offering? In which case, I might take you up on that. As long as I've got water. Um I try I I don't drink soft drinks generally, so I don't really have fizzy drinks. Um to be honest, a cup of tea like I've got a cup of tea now. I've I've had a few sips of it. But water is something that I always have with me at conventions when I'm uh teaching games.

1:21:00 Next question from Boards and Brews, what is your recommendation for growing a new YouTube channel? What do you wish that you had known when you started? That's a that's a common question that I've been asked a few times over the last few years. My recommendations for growing a new YouTube channel, honestly, I don't know. I It It might seem unusual because I've been doing my channel for 12 years, but I don't feel at all qualified on giving recommendations on how to grow a channel other than the obvious ones of you need to keep your content regular. You know, you don't want to do two videos and then have a break for 3 months. That that's not going to work. You need to find your own style. Don't copy anybody else's style. Just do your own thing.

1:21:52 But also, take feedback from your audience. So, especially when you're starting, ask for feedback if there's something that people don't like, whether it be the sound quality or what's in the background or the length of the videos or anything like that, try and engage with your audience and try and get feedback from them because one thing that's really nice for me to see when I'm watching other channels, and I'm going to say smaller channels, i.e. ones with maybe 4, 5,000 subscribers, is I go to their channels and I will watch some of their videos now and again and I will see comments from people and it will be the same people commenting on each video and I'm like, "Great. You found your audience.

1:22:40 Your audience is these people who are watching your content regularly. So, you've got to find something that keeps people coming back to it and and how you do that is is completely up to you. But, yeah. Other other than that, keeping the content regular. Now, I'm not saying regular like you need to do it every day. You don't need to do content every day. You could just do one video a week as long as it doesn't like, you know, disappear for 6 months or something. You need to You need to do that. Uh what do you wish you would have known before when What do you wish you had known when you had started? Oh, there's so many things. There's a list of a hundred things um that I wish I'd have known when I started both from a how much effort is this going to be from a technical point of view of the so many things that I've learned about audio, lighting, and everything else as well as the um the physical and the mental drain on producing content and all of the pressure that comes with that. Yeah, there's a huge amount of things that I've uh I I wish I'd have known before I started, but a lot of it you only know when you actually start doing it yourself.

1:23:51 Next question from Frank, what has been the most stressful video that you've produced in the last few months? Oh, months. We're not talking years here. So, the most stressful video that I have produced in the last few months. Right. Well, I'm going to go to my YouTube channel right now and I'm going to go YouTube Where's Where's my stuff? My stuff is here. Right. Okay, I'm I'm through all the videos that I've produced in the last few months. And I'm first of all going to the live tab. Apparently, I'm doing a Q&A right now. Oh, I might watch that later. Um was that one stressful? No. No. I mean, there's there's always stress that comes with it, especially if it's a sponsored video, and especially if it's a live stream.

1:24:40 But I'm looking through these. And we're saying the last few months. So, that I mean, I do a lot of videos. Gosh. Um there was that one. There was that one. That was okay. That one was okay. Right, I've gone back to March. And I'm not really seeing anything on there. So, let me now go to the videos which were not live, which were put up afterwards. Okay. It really depends on your definition of stress. I think the the video that I did for Speak Easy, that was a lot of work. That went live on the 24th of January.

1:25:29 Um yeah, there was there was a lot of issues around the creation of that video to do with uh timing and fitting it in and then deadlines and everything else. So, that that was a bit stressful. I'd probably have to say, to be honest, I'm going to say over the last few months, and this might surprise you, I'm going to say the Star Trek Captain's Chair videos. And the reason why I'm saying the Star Trek Captain's Chair videos is touching on what I said earlier on about the fact that some of the captains from Star Trek Captain's Chair that I have played in the last few months have been way beyond my comfort level. So, what's happened is I have had to practice at least eight to 10 times before doing a video.

1:26:18 I don't have the time to get that many practice games in before doing the video. Normally, for most games that I cover on the channel, two games, maybe two and a half, and then I'm in and I'm confident in order to do a play through. But, with Star Trek Captain's Chair, because some of the captains that I've played, specifically Kirk and Riker as well, the complexity of the deck meant that I played them three, four, five times, and I didn't feel comfortable. Which meant I had to dedicate more time to playing them. And then what would happen is I would spend 3 hours recording a play through video, and I'd get to the end of it, and I wouldn't be happy with it. So, over the last few months, the Star Trek Captain's Chair videos that I've created, and I've created six videos over the last few months, the time that I thought that it would take me to create all six videos, which is learning them, practicing them, recording them, editing them, it was triple. I've I've worked it out this afternoon. It's actually taken me three times as long to create those videos in entirety, cuz I'm almost at the end of editing the sixth one. I'm literally about half an hour's more work away from the last one, and then it's done.

1:27:41 So, I'd planned approximately what had I planned? Probably about 80 hours of work in total, and it's been about 200 to 250 hours of work. And the reason why it's stressful is a combination of playing these decks is way outside of my comfort zone, and I'm here. I'm doing a video, I'm being paid to do a video to show the game off to you, and whilst I'm trying to be professional and keep it going, my brain is going boom boom and I'm and I'm not coping with it. And I've got to, you know, put on a brave face. And I do like the game. I love the game. I think the game's amazing. But it's playing complex decks is really difficult for me.

1:28:30 And then the fact that it's taken three times as long to create as I thought it would has meant that I've been having to work a lot of extra evenings. The The amount of evenings and weekends that I've worked in the last 3 months has been more than I would like. So, yeah, that that's that's been quite a lot of stress. Right, we are at 6:30. We We normally try to keep these things at 6:30 and as usual I've rambled on more than normal. So, what I will say is no more questions for now. If you are watching live, thank you very much, but no more questions for today and I will now try and answer the last lot of questions before we finish. So, next one is from Rick. Would you want to do a campaign play through of Lands of Ever Shade on the channel? Yes.

1:29:18 No question. Absolutely. If if I had complete freedom of choice in my life, I would be playing Lands of Ever Shade tonight. That is how I feel about that game right now. I I I want to play that game more than anything else right now. So, yes, I would love to do a full campaign play through of Lands of Ever Shade on the channel. Next question from Magic Max. Now that Feia Swamp is back in stock, is it? Excellent. And you've had time to digest your play through, would you recommend it? Yes, I would. So, Feia Swamp is one of the games from Essen last year that I do recommend. However, the rulebook isn't great. So, definitely check out BoardGameGeek for clarifications because there are some rules in there which are wrong and some rules which are really vague.

1:30:14 But, I like the game. I I recommend the game. It's definitely worth trying it. It's not for everybody, but I I really like First Mart. So, yeah, I would recommend it. Next question from the Sweep Holes. Where in Great Britain should you visit? Definitely a town called Cullompton in Devon. It's a lovely place. Uh we enjoy natural beauty and light hiking. Good food. We are not price sensitive. That's I mean, you're going to get The thing with the UK is that there are so many nice places of natural beauty and hiking. I I would say the Devon coast. Potentially even the Dorset coast or Cornwall or or anything like that. And also Devon has lots of nice areas in the countryside. But, there will be other people who will recommend other parts of the country for light hiking and natural beauty. There's a lot of areas in the UK with really nice natural beauty. I grew up in Lancashire. Just north of Lancashire is a place called the Lake District. Lake District is absolutely gorgeous. And you've also got areas in Wales which are beautiful as well with the valleys and the hills and everything else. So, there's It's very difficult for me to say where you should visit because there is so many different options of what you want.

1:31:31 I'm more than happy if you want to drop me a message privately and I can contact uh you know, various other people. Speak to patron supporters on the Slack channel and we can put together a list for you. More than happy to help do that. Next question from Looting Recon. What are your thoughts on people playing thematic music while playing games? Not while streaming. Do you mind? If they want to, then I will put up with it. But, for me, I like quiet. Either when I'm playing a computer game or when I'm streaming or when I'm playing a board game. We used to have music on when we played Lord of the Rings. So, when we played the Lord of the Rings: Journeys in Middle-earth, we used the app because you can't play that game without the app. And the app had music built in. And we actually had the music plugged in to the Wi-Fi speakers in the room where we played. When we played it at Mark's, when we play it here, we didn't have the music playing, I don't think.

1:32:30 Maybe we did, I can't remember. But generally speaking, I am not a music in the background person. If somebody wants music in the background, then as long as it's background music, then I'm okay with it. Um yeah, I I just don't want the music to get in the way so that it's distracting. Next question from Frank, do you have any plans on your latest plans for Essen? Are you plans planning to visit Dice and Mystics again? I actually haven't got any plans for Essen whatsoever other than I know how I'm getting there. I know which hotel I'm staying in. I know what I'm going to be demoing. I'm going to be demoing Don't Starve in the mornings for Glass Cannon Unplugged. And I would like to go to Dice and Mystics again. So, I haven't spoken to them about it, but I will speak to them and hopefully they'll happily have me back again. Other than that, yeah, I I don't have any other plans for Essen, but that's pretty much everything everything planned. I know how I'm getting there, where I'm staying, what I'm doing when I'm there. The only thing I guess I haven't worked out for Essen is what are the games that I'm going to collect while I'm there. We're and and we're too soon for that at the moment. We are too soon for that. Next question from Jonathan, there are so many adventure stroke crawler stroke combat games that I am overwhelmed by the options. Do I think that they fall into categories or all or are they all a big mush?

1:33:55 Well, they're all in the same category, but there are very very different ones. One end of the scale, for example, you have Kinfire Chronicles and Fate Forge. These are both games that I've enjoyed a lot and they are on the simple and short side. You can play a game one chapter of Fate Forge in about 45 minutes and you can play one chapter in of Kinfire Chronicles in about 45 minutes to an hour. So, relatively simple. The campaigns are probably about, I don't know, 15 episodes long or something like that. And then on the the other extreme end, you've got Aeon Trespass Odyssey, which is by far the most complex game that I have ever played with a campaign that's going to last you about 80 hours. So, although they are both the same as in they are fantasy cooperative adventure story, bit of combat, etc. etc.

1:34:56 You you you can't compare the the two games because they are so very different in terms of their approach, their complexity, time to play and everything else. So, I'm I'm with you in that there are a huge number of them these days and if I was to go on Kickstarter or Gamefound right now, I'd probably find three more campaigns for, you know, here's a fantasy cooperative adventure game that's narrative driven and will take you 80 hours to play. They're everywhere. So, you've got to look, you've got to decide what you want, but thankfully there are different complexities to suit different people. Uh next question from Looting Raccoon. How creepy do you find the faction The Graft in Cloudspire? How many of the factions have you played? Do you have a favorite? I don't have a favorite.

1:35:42 Cloudspire is one of those games that I would absolutely love to play more of and there are plans for a rematch between me and JP on my birthday week in July. Um the the Graft was a really interesting faction. If you don't know Cloudspire, effectively, it's a tower defense game where each player has a fortress and then you have lots of units that move towards your opponent's fortress to try and defeat your opponent's fortress. The Graft is one of the new factions that just came out and it doesn't have a fortress. What it does is it has one piece on the board which moves around and that is their fortress. So, it's actually a mobile piece and it's big amoeba type thing. Um I didn't find it creepy at all because I don't I just see the mechanisms and the mechanics and the rules rather than thinking about this is some gelatinous whatever.

1:36:37 Um I don't have a favorite, no. I I'd like to play a lot more of it, but I haven't played it enough to have a favorite. Next question from Malachite, "What are your thoughts on the argument that video games make board games redundant?" That's that's nonsense. Um "where things like saving the game, the math, the upkeep is made trivial by the video." Yeah, no. To be honest, uh Who Who is making that argument? Who is making the argument that video games make board games redundant? No, I I I don't get that at all. I play video games and I play board games and it is true that video games do all of the upkeep for you and that in board games you've got to remember, "Oh yeah, at the end of round three we need to remove one of those from there. Oh, and then we need to progress the day marker. Oh, don't forget to refresh your skills."

1:37:28 I get it. Computer games do all of that for you. But, the experience of me playing a computer game versus the experience of me playing a board game, I'm able to separate them as two different things even though there are board games based on computer games. So, for example, Frostpunk. I have Frostpunk the board game. I have Frostpunk the computer game. They're the same game, but they are entirely different experiences. And there are some people who will only ever play the computer game because the board game is too much admin. And there are some people who will only ever play the board game because they don't like playing computer games. So, I'm happy that we have both in the hobby, but I I my thought on the argument that video games are making board games redundant is is nonsense. I don't agree with that. What I do like is the publishers who are actually considering setup and take down times as part of the game. So, specifically, Open Owl Studios with Mythwind, Stone Saga, and other games that they're working on, they are really big on we want you to be able to save the game by putting things in certain places, putting a plastic cover over it and it keeps everything in place, and then next time you can get it out, take the front cover off, and you can start playing. And Lands of Everlasting does the same thing.

1:38:54 Games that don't have this system will take you and I'm thinking Agemonia. As much as I love Agemonia, it's a 30-minute setup each time we play because we're having to get all of these things out and these things and these things and these things. And that's just the nature of the game. But it's nice to see that some publishers are actually taking the setting up and taking down time as part of the um you know, factoring that in. Next question from Frederick, do you think a solo mode is necessary for a board game? I can answer that question without reading your second sentence. No. And what does a solo mode need to be really good? So, to answer the first one, I am a big believer, and I have said this multiple times, that not every game needs a solo mode, and not every game should have a solo mode. Now, I'm really happy that solo gaming has come on massively in the last 10 years.

1:39:53 And I'm really happy that publishers are creating solo modes for games now, whereas in the past it it wasn't done as much. I'm very happy about the growth of solo gaming in the board game hobby. That said, not every game needs a solo mode. And there are some games where the solo mode just doesn't work at all. And it's it's like the publisher said, "Oh, if we put a solo mode in the game, it's going to appeal to another 20%." It's a marketing thing. I get that. And then the solo mode is terrible. So, yeah, not every game needs a solo mode.

1:40:39 What does it take to make a solo mode good? That really depends on your opinions on solo modes. I have my own thoughts on what it takes for a good solo mode because I am somebody who doesn't mind beat your own score. I am in the minority on this and I am aware that I'm in the minority on this, but give me a good Uwe Rosenberg game, Feast for Odin. Feast for Odin solo, I love it. It's a beat your own score game, but I I love it. I don't have an AI opponent. I don't have any of that to take into account and I'm absolutely fine with that. Um so, yeah, for me, I am easily pleased when it comes to solo modes of games because I don't mind a beat your own score game. For me, I need it low maintenance. I don't want a complex AI that I'm having to follow. So, to give you an example, any solo mode of any Vital Lacerda game for me is outside my comfort zone.

1:41:36 Perseverance, episodes 1 and 2, one of the worst experiences that I've had was having to do the sponsored playthrough videos for the solo modes for Perseverance episodes 1 and 2. And I'm saying at worst experience, I was paid to make those videos. The reason why it was a bad experience for me is the solo mode for Perseverance is a very good solo mode at recreating what another player would do, but it was so far beyond my comfort level I really struggled. Really, really struggled. And because it was a sponsored video, I had to get it right and really practice and it just it was Yeah, it it was really, really hard for me. So, we all have our own opinions on what makes a good solo mode, and for me I I like them to be relatively low maintenance.

1:42:27 Next question from Looting Regonk, is there a final decision on chicken names? No, I still haven't I I still don't think we've finally decided on the chicken names. Uh have you tried Too Many Bones coffee? I haven't. Uh I don't drink coffee. I I gave up coffee a few years ago. What's the ultimate best tea flavor in your opinion? Just tea. Just English breakfast tea. That is that is my favorite tea flavor. Uh was I drinking that earlier? Yeah, I very rarely have anything other than just standard English breakfast tea. Uh next question from Kate, if you visit Vancouver, would you come south to Washington and visit Seattle? Sorry, to Washington state and visit Seattle, you could meet my cat. Okay. So, we're going for a week while you were away we're going for a week on holiday to Vancouver and then we're going for a week to stay with Kate and to meet her cat.

1:43:18 So, yeah, is that okay? Great. We'll see you We'll see you in a couple of weeks' time. Next question from Frederick, have you heard about the board game Hot Shots because they are at the moment on Kickstarter with their second edition? Nope, I'm afraid not. I've I've not heard of that game, but apparently it's on Kickstarter with a second edition. So, am I going to cover it when it comes out? Nope. I've not heard of the game. So, um yeah, I don't know about that one. Um next question, do I play games with only a few rules a bit laid-back like Monopoly and Uno? No. I mean, okay, do I play games that only have a few rules? Yes. That are a bit laid-back? No. I mean, you you've mentioned Monopoly Uno. No. I don't play any of those style of games. But, I do play games with a few rules. For example, Just One. Just One is a fantastic game.

1:44:09 Love playing Just One. So, Clover has few rules. Tower Up has very few rules, but I like playing that as well. So, I don't always play super heavy complex games or medium-weight games. I do like playing games with light rules. Ingenious from Reiner Knizia, which I love as a game. That has a very few rules um as well. So, yeah, there are some games that I play which are very light on rules. My favorite game in that category is probably either Tower Up or Ingenious. I might have to give it to Ingenious just because of my personal story with that game and the fact that I can play it with Vicky and her family and things like that. Tower Up might be the better game, but Ingenious is very good. Uh next question, do we plan on having another session of World Order with four players? I think we mentioned that earlier on. I think I got asked earlier on about am I going to be doing any more content for World Order? And I I want to, but I currently don't have anything booked into my diary. So, it will be a case of if I get time to do it, then I would like to do it.

1:45:14 Uh next question, sorry if this was asked before, have I seen the Jaffa Cake Digestive Biscuits? Yes. Um if you missed the answer to that, go back about half an hour and we talked about it then. Next question from Aron Way, there has been rumblings about and videos about content creators getting burnt out recently in the last 12 months. Are you finding that case or in your experience is it just the natural ebb and flow? So, if you're asking for am I finding it the case that there are a lot of content creators over the last year getting burnt out? I'm not seeing that myself. There might be perhaps one or two content creators that don't do videos now that did do videos a year ago, but most of the people who I am in contact with are still running their channels and it's it's still going strong. So, yeah, I've I I've not heard any such rumblings. I'm not saying that it isn't happening, but it's certainly not something that I'm aware of.

1:46:19 Next question from Monica. What is the closest area to you that you still haven't been to that you would love to visit and what if anything holds you back? Is there somewhere near to us that we'd love to visit and and we just haven't? I mean, I'm No, can't can't think of anything offhand. Uh there are loads of lovely places in Devon that we haven't been to and the thing that holds us back is the normal thing of time. Uh next question from Monica. What is the tiniest game that you own? Well, it might be Gloomhaven Buttons and Bugs, which I lent to Paul Snugs on Monday. So, we've got a Thor. We don't normally have a Thor. You going to come over, Thor?

1:47:10 Yeah, he's a bit he's a bit camera shy. Here you go. He's all right. There you go. Um yeah, Gloomhaven Buttons and Bugs is in a really small box, so that might be the tiniest game that I own. Maybe. Um I've also got Scout. Scout is in a smaller box. So, probably Scout. I think that's in a smaller box. Next question from the Sweeples, would you ever consider doing a Tim Tam Slam during a Q&A? Yes, I'm sure this has been asked before. I'm sure we've definitely been asked this, but I'm more than happy to do a Tim Tam Slam during a Q&A. In fact, we could combine it with the the Jaffa Cake digestive thing that I mentioned earlier, right? Next question from Monica, what is your take when designers try to throw in special letters from other languages?

1:47:59 Assuming we talk about the English market here, speaking as a Norwegian, oh, when you see the letter O with the with the thing through it. So, my my take on it, and it's normally not a designer decision. This is normally a publisher decision rather than a designer. But, as long as they're doing it for the right reasons. As long as they're doing it because the actual name of the place, like Tromsø, if that's how you pronounce it. As long as the name of the place has that special character in it, then it is absolutely right for the publisher to use that special character if that's what should be used. However, sometimes people will use special characters as a marketing choice, and they're doing it just for the sake of marketing, and I don't like that. So, I I like it when they use it for when they should be using it, and I don't like it when they're using it just to try and you know, appeal to a group of people, and it's actually kind of like false marketing.

1:49:04 Next question from Søren, does a designer or publisher's political stance affect your enjoyment of a game? Is there a game that you initially enjoyed, and then got colder on due to the things that you learned later. Now, it would be wrong for me to say no. A designer or publisher's political stance affects my enjoyment of a game. So, there's one designer that comes to mind who has a um They're they're they're kind of well-known for their and I don't know if it's a political stance or just a belief stance. Uh but he's quite unpopular. And thankfully, I have Oh gosh, look at all this.

1:49:52 Ooh. Um Okay. Thankfully, I have other reasons not to like games from this designer. And that is because they are some of the worst rulebooks that have ever been written in the history of rulebooks ever. And for the last 10 years, they have learned nothing and still continually put out rulebooks that are the worst rulebooks ever. That is enough for me to say I am not interested in anything that you ever do. The fact that they also have very strong beliefs, which I don't agree with, gives me another reason for avoiding anything that they do. But let's say for example, let's say for example, Stefan Feld. Okay. So, this is a completely hypothetical situation. I am picking Stefan Feld because I have more games in my collection by Stefan Feld than anybody else.

1:50:54 I would say that he is in my top five game designers. I love a lot of his games and I like most of the rest of his games. There's only a couple of his games that I haven't really liked. So, let's say I out that Stefan Feld has a political stance which I don't agree with. How is that going to affect my enjoyment of his games? It really depends how strong that belief is. Because as somebody who is a emotionally sensitive person I am being impacted. I I'm not able to block things out.

1:51:42 So let's say for example that Stefan Feld hates cats. And I'm playing one of his games. In the back of my mind, I'll be like, this is a great game. I really enjoyed this game. This is really really good. But Stefan Feld hates cats. So I'm being silly here, but you get the idea. It all depends on you as a person and how much you are able to block out the outside and just appreciate what you're doing. And this is not just in the board game hobby. This is everything. This is music. This is films. This is any form of art or anything like that which is a form that you enjoy and is good and then you find out something about the person who created it that you don't agree with. And it's how much you're able to put up your own walls to be able to deal with that. And it it really depends what it is.

1:52:39 To be honest, I would have to take it on a a game by game basis and a person by person basis. But it's a good question. Uh next question from uh Dryan. I adore Imperium Classics and Legends. Any plan to do a couple of more players? I'm afraid not. So my copy of Imperium Classics, Imperium Legends, and Imperium Horizons have left my collection. They have gone to Brian Robson. I gave them away as part of a Patreon giveaway last year, and Brian was the lucky winner, and he now has those games. Now, I'll tell you the reason why I got rid of them. First of all, I don't have the space to keep every game that I have. So, I get rid of approximately 100 games a year from my collection, and that's because I get about 100 games a year, but also a lot of the games that I'm getting recently are huge games. So, I've just gained a copy of Lands of Ever Shade. I've had to remove four or five games from my collection just to make room for Lands of Ever Shade. So, the number of games that I have is actually going down because the games are getting bigger.

1:53:53 So, I'm not able to keep everything. Even games which are good, which I would want to keep because they're good, I'm having to get rid of. However, Imperium Classics, Legends, Horizons, whatever. I didn't enjoy that game as much as I wanted to, and then Star Trek Captain's Chair came along. And Star Trek Captain's Chair is a re-implementation of the mechanisms. It isn't just Star Trek themed version of the same game. It is a re-implementation of it, and I love Star Trek Captain's Chair, so there will never ever be a situation where I would prefer to play Imperium compared to Star Trek Captain's Chair. And therefore, there is no point me having that game in my collection. So, yes, there won't be any playthroughs of that game coming because uh it is no longer in my collection.

1:54:43 We have two questions left, and then we're done, and then I can go for food. This is from Raz. What is your favorite Garfield Games game? So, it's Garfield Games, my favorite one. Oh. I mean, I've not played as many as I should have done. I'm trying to think of the ones that I have played. I did enjoy Hadrian's Wall quite a bit. But, it then got beaten by the Anarchy. So much so, if I owned Hadrian's Wall, I probably would get rid of it. I don't actually own Hadrian's Wall, so I don't have to make that decision. I do enjoy the Anarchy. I'll tell you what, the the one I I don't know why I didn't think of this, Assyria. Assyria second edition, which has only just come out, is my favorite game from Garfield Games. And it's a little bit of a a cheaty answer because Assyria, they did the second edition. And all credit to them for developing the second edition, but I was a huge fan of the original game Assyria. So, if you're asking honestly for my favorite game from Garfield Games, it has to be Assyria second edition.

1:55:47 If you're asking me what my favorite game is that was created by Garfield Games and not a second edition of something else, I'm not sure. I'd have to have a think about that. And the last question for this month is from Daniel Etheridge. Given the amazing popularity of GridCon, would you consider doing two a year or making it bigger? Daniel, we need to talk. The

1:56:09 That discussion has been had a number of times. Um yes, making it bigger means moving to another venue. We have spent 2 years looking at moving into another venue, and we've been unsuccessful at finding somewhere suitable. It's not as easy as people think. Would we consider doing two a year? That's also been discussed multiple times, and we've we've flip-flopped on the idea of doing two a year. And yeah, it's not just as easy as that because GridCon is a massive amount of work, and it's just not feasible for us to do two a year that are the same as GridCon. With the charity raffle, with the designers, with the sponsored demos, doing two a year of the same style wouldn't be possible. Would we be able to do a second event that is just a gaming weekend that doesn't have all of the other stuff that GridCon has? Yes, but again, it's all about timing and everything else. Anyway, we are all done. We're going to close the poll.

1:57:08 We've had 63 votes. And the answers are What are the answers? Have the answers come up? I hope the answers have come up. Where is the poll? 65% of people say that polyomino games are a subset of tile laying games. There you go. So, it's 2/3 of people think it is a subset of tile laying and 1/3 of people think that it's its own game. So, hopefully that's answered that question. I'm not sure what I say. I I'd probably say it is a subset as well. Yeah, I think I'd I'd say it was a subset. So, one more final reminder just before we disappear, the contest. Don't forget you can win 50 or 75 pounds worth of game vouchers from Games Lore. All you need to do, very simple, click on the link in the description of this video. It's also going into the chat right now.

1:58:00 Click on the link. Enter the contest. Give me your name. Give me your email address. The secret word is scissors. And I will do the draw next month. And if you are a patron supporter and you win, you get 75 pounds worth of vouchers. And if you're not a patron supporter, you get 50 pounds of vouchers. Second shout out is to all of my patron supporters. Thank you very much for making these videos possible. And if you like the content that I create, you want to support me directly, this video is not paid for by anybody, no sponsorship from any publishers or anything like that. It's all funded through Patreon and all of the advertising revenue from this video and all of my other videos goes to charities and other good causes. So, if you want to support me directly, you can do so at patreon.com/gamingrules. As of this morning, we had 1,331 patron supporters. We are trying to get to 1,400 patron supporters. And when we do, I will be doing a live play through of a game called Freedom in the Galaxy from 1977.

1:58:58 It might never happen, but we will see. So, yes, if you do decide to become one of my patron supporters, thank you very much. You will get access to the Slack channel, lots of extra discussions, behind-the-scenes videos, all sorts of extra stuff. But, only do so if you are in a position to be able to. But, certainly don't feel pressured to do so. That's it for tonight. I will be back tomorrow at 4:00 with a live unboxing of the deluxe version of World Order. And then on Friday is the public public release of the final video in the Star Trek Captain's Chair series, which is the Pike solo play through. I will be finishing editing it tonight. And then I will be uploading it tonight for my patron supporters, but it will be going public on Friday. So, those two videos are coming over the next couple of days while I'm off to the Netherlands. So, yes, thank you very much to everyone for watching today.

1:59:48 Take care. We'll see you next time. Bye, guys.