Ask Us Anything! (2025 Edition)

0:04 Hey, I'm Ryan. This is my brother Daniel. This is Rolls in the Family. And today's the day you get to learn a little bit more about us,

0:11 you know, according to whatever questions you, the audience, or at least a very small subset of our This

0:19 presubmitted. Yeah. All 16 of you. I don't remember how many responses we had. We actually had a good number of questions though here. So, we're going to have to we're going to have to keep this thing moving. Dang. We can't be here for for 2 hours, but we're going to hit through all these questions that uh you guys submitted. I tried to order them kind of logically so we get somewhat of a cohesive flow here. Though, let's just say some of these questions fit nowhere. They were they were completely out of left field.

0:47 Uh if after hearing our, you know, responses in this, you have any follow-up questions, you could leave those in the comments below. We may or may not follow up. Maybe we'll just choose to plead the fifth and uh

0:58 heart your comments and it Yep. then you'll know.

1:03 Uh but yeah, maybe you'll learn something you didn't know about us today.

1:08 Let's kick it off though. Daniel, we're starting with kind of stuff about our gaming history. So, the first question here is uh kind of a combo one. What were both of your first gateway games? How long would you say you've been in the hobby? Who got who into board games first? or was board gaming something that started early on within your family as kids?

1:30 So, I I feel like we didn't play like a ton of board games early early on. We always liked games.

1:36 Yeah. Not not traditional board games, per se.

1:39 But there was a game, Daniel, that changed everything. What was that game?

1:44 Changed our lives forever.

1:45 Killer Bunnies.

1:46 It was Killer Bunnies. Really? was the we actually had the game Carcassone before that, but it never it was always like this weird thing that we're like is this kind of Yeah. Like we never really understood that like oh this is like actually really cool.

1:59 Um but Killer Bunnies was the one that made us go

2:02 what I didn't know there were games like this like what else is out

2:06 we had the standard you know Monopoly trouble stuff like that but

2:11 exactly

2:11 opened our mind. Yes, we got uh so Killer Bunnies really opened our minds and then we I remember I found reviews from Tom Vassel on the Dice Tower way back. He's like this is like 2008 so this that's how I would say how long we've been in the hobby. Found some reviews for Small World and Dominion and those were the two that we got and then that just

2:34 the floodgates were opened

2:36 once we experienced Small World and Dominion. Um,

2:40 so yeah, it really was kind of both at the same time. Um, and we were both living at home at that time. And so those early days, if you ever hear us talk about the golden era, there was about like

2:51 3 4 years there especially that like we just

2:56 we put so much of of those games. Yeah, it was Dominion Small World. I think right after that was um was it I know Pandemic was pandemic was really cities Race for the Galaxy was really Race for the Galaxy. So um

3:12 and that was just weird was just such a period of discovery. We're just like oh my gosh there's this whole world of these games and so it was a pretty thrill.

3:21 Well, it's wild how much the hobby has changed since 2008. Like it's become even way more mainstream um and the amount of games coming out and stuff. So

3:28 yeah. So yeah, we we have a special place in our heart for Killer Bunnies for opening opening Pandora's box for us.

3:36 Uh next up we have, have you found any games that you didn't like at the first play but grew to love?

3:45 Yeah, I'll uh I'll start here, Ryan. So two games come to mind and one I'm not sure I like disliked it per se. Um, but I will say a Gricola and you know viewers of the channel like when we first played it now this is again I was just getting beat down by Ryan. My gosh like you can only so many times look at your you know your people are starving. There's no food. There's no your crops are failing and Ryan's over there just with a bounty of uhount of bounty. And so I think there was a little bit of a struggle there, but you know, just it was kind of like, okay, this is this is kind of interesting, but I I in no way like loved it the way that I do now. And I think we've talked about it being a game that, you know, the more you play it, you really do grow uh grow into that. So that's one. Um, second one

4:34 came to mind was Cosmic Encounter actually uh because we got that game I think it was at around it might have been your birthday cuz I remember it being around Christmas time.

4:42 Yeah. And so we started out just playing these three player games of

4:46 a lot of little three-player

4:47 three-player games of it. And I remember it was kind of like

4:50 this is not the best way to play.

4:52 Like this game's fine, you know, it's kind of interesting. But I don't think it we we were kind of I it it took that finding the group that you ended up started playing it with a ton that I think it really opened up the oh my goodness, this game's incredible. So those two those two were the ones that came to mind for me. Yeah, some of the first ones came to mind for me were from that really early era we were talking about. So Carcassonne is one that we grew to love Carcassonne and it's like we had it before, you know. Uh so it could have happened earlier.

5:21 I will say the traders and builders uh and cathedrals and tra Yeah, the expansions helped a lot. Um but yeah, really good game. Uh Race for the Galaxy I remember was like what is this? Cuz we had not played that iconography in that one. Uh, and it was kind of a little bit overwhelming at first, but obviously, uh, 320 plus plays later, we got over that.

5:45 Um, the other one that came to mind for me was actually Decryptto cuz I not that we had a bad bad first place, but similar to Cosmic, once you experienced it with the right group and like had a really good game of it, it was like, oh my gosh, this game,

5:59 you know, the ceiling for it is so high. So I I think we don't often have ones that we dislike that we end up liking

6:08 later

6:08 cuz we're impulsive. We get rid of it.

6:10 It's usually Yeah. Yeah. We just we get rid of it. So no, it's usually that it's like we're not it's not love at first sight, but then it grows from that, right?

6:18 Um

6:19 so yeah, it's good to you know, we are definitely proponents of like play your games. I mean, sometimes, you know, after one, sometimes you don't need multiple play. I do not like this game. Um, but sometimes if it's kind of in that middle like repeated plays can go a long way.

6:32 Very true.

6:33 Um, to improving it.

6:34 Let's see. How has your taste in games evolved over the past few years? Do you have a favorite now that you would have not liked a few years ago or vice versa?

6:43 I'll start here. Um, I think the biggest thing for me, I mean, obviously I I've had kids now and so like there's this appreciation for like kids games and stuff, but kind of related to that, just an appreciation for simpler, shorter games. early in our gaming together, it was all about what game do we want to play with each other and that pushed us a lot more to more complex games and heavier games and it was like who needs these. You know, we have games we got rid of like uh we got rid of for sale and ink and gold

7:12 ink and gold. I wish I could go buy and these would kind of be nice to still have now on the other side of it. Um and so I do have much more appreciation for these games that are really fit the situation. um are easy to get to the table.

7:26 Great.

7:26 Um so yeah, I think that's the biggest one for me.

7:30 Yeah, I uh something that I think was thrilling when it kind of first was coming into the board game scene, but I've cooled on a lot is legacy games. Um you know, games where you're uh it's kind of this one time play through it. And and I think, you know, you can still have fun with them, but um I I just think we've really gravitated more towards finding games that we can just play over and over again. Um versus uh

7:56 one time experiences with I I think the surprise factor, the novelty of that kind of wore off a little bit. Like, you know, the first time we were playing like Pandemic Legacy was it was pretty awesome. Um but just that that mechanic, it's kind of like, okay, it's not it doesn't have the novelty factor of it um anymore. Plus, I know we've cooled on that's kind of connected with just campaign games of, you know, you have to have the same group like I Pandemic Legacy, we felt this pressure of like whenever we had that group together and it was kind of a short amount of time that we had to play that game and and I think we don't like that.

8:29 I feel like all these big really good campaign games that like Gloom Haven was one of the earlier ones that really started at this trend of these big really well-designed campaign. I feel like they came too late cuz we didn't really have them when we were still living together back at Can you imagine like that would have been the scenario we would have finished.

8:48 But a new dawn is coming Ryan with children.

8:51 With children I'm telling you.

8:53 So maybe campaign games will see a resurgence.

8:56 Yeah. The other the other thing for me is I've actually come around on production quality and and this you know I think there's on the one hand there's you know games that it's like okay the amount of you know money going into this is just unnecessary. But I will say the I I kind of used to be like oh wait like we don't need the production it's just the game it's just the mechanics. I'm starting to realize like my enjoyment of a game, the production of it totally does have kind of an impact in like the enjoyment of playing the game. And so, uh, there's been a few times I've actually been okay paying a little bit more for a the better, uh, better thing. you know, one a clear example like uh Quacks of Quedlinberg, like

9:40 you can totally play the game with the, you know, regular chips, but those nicer chips like drastically improve just the tactical feel of the game. And I think there's some other examples of that as well. Um,

9:52 yeah, I think I've I've kind of come around on this one as well. Um, yeah, like I used to definitely be just like the I want the game the game itself for as cheap as it can be. Um, but yeah, it really there is this like toy factor. There's, you know, board games are tangible and so like moving around and and having it look really good. Yeah. Like it it matters. Plus, we've talked about we're the type of people we want to find these games that we play over and over and over. So, like you kind of get to reap the benefits of the game.

10:21 Well, I think early on in our journey, you know, we're discovering this hobby and so we're just wanting to get games. I mean, you know, and like we're playing them a lot, too, but but we're just so very much I think we're in an efficiency mindset of like, okay, have and we're probably not making very much money. You know, we're working like high school jobs and stuff and so uh efficiency whereas now, you know, I think we're able to be like, okay, that actually might be worth uh going in on a

10:47 plus we're more time constrained now. So,

10:48 we are it doesn't feel as bad as like, oh, like, oh, I could get this game or I could get four games. It's like, well, if I get four games, I'm not going to be able to like play them all. Like, it's Yeah.

10:59 Yeah, totally.

11:00 Uh, this one is hard to recall to my brain, but what is your greatest gaming story? It can be Oh, did I skipped one? I'll go back to that.

11:11 Yeah, go back to that one.

11:12 I'll go back to that one. Uh, have either of you I'll go back to it right now. I don't know if you want me to wait or not. I'm going back right now. Uh, have either of you been into trading card games? If so, which one?

11:24 It's funny. I was like, this isn't that hard of a question, right?

11:26 Yeah. This This should be a quick one. This should be a quick one. The answer is

11:29 Yu-Gi-Oh. That was the one that in our neighborhood.

11:34 Oh, yeah. Redemption. Come on.

11:37 Yes. The Christian spin-off of Magic the Gathering. Uh, I don't think we ever knew how to play that game. I think we just had some cards.

11:44 I don't think we did either.

11:45 Um, but Yu-Gi-Oh was really the big one. uh to the point where me and our older brother completely made a homebrew

11:54 crazy

11:55 crazy cards which is basically Yu-Gi-Oh but we made all our own cards illustrated we gave them like we had season

12:04 in our neighborhood

12:05 we would give out booster packs we had tournaments we gave out like promo cards to winners of tournaments

12:10 were so nerdy oh my god I remember sitting folding these little envelopes and drawing the thing on it to make booster packs.

12:20 I would come out to the front porch. I'd

12:22 This was a precursor of the channel, Ryan forcing me to edit and do all that stuff.

12:27 Yeah. Yeah. I uh would come out to the porch with all these booster packs and we'd distribute them among the neighborhood kids and everybody would build their decks. And

12:34 do you think we still have the files to crazy cards?

12:37 They're on our dad's old way to get them off.

12:41 Get them onto a floppy drive. It's in like ClariS work some software that

12:47 like there's no export to PDF on that thing. This thing is 30 years old.

12:53 Oh no.

12:55 But they do exist. I I should I should dig up some screenshots and maybe share them on the channel here.

13:00 Oh gosh.

13:01 Cuz there's there's some gems.

13:03 Oh shoot. Ryan, if you can do it before uh get my dad to export them before this video, I'll throw them on. Maybe they've already been showing on the screen. Now I feel like I have to imagine putting more work.

13:13 Okay. Greatest gaming story. It can be an incredible win, a wild turn of events, or the best narrative to unfold within the story.

13:23 So when I heard this question, the first thing that popped to mind for me was games like Elder Horror and Cosmic Encounter because there was that season, but like I don't have a lot of specific like that I can recall. I just know that there were so many really big amazing moments in games. Um, as far as a moment I can remember what specifically of a game, this is just a funny one that happened in the last few years. We were playing the game uh, a fake artist goes to New York where everybody knows what's being drawn except one person and everybody has to contribute a wine and the person that doesn't know needs to try to fit in and not let people know that they don't know. Well, we had uh, another person deal out the things for the round and be the one that was kind of picking the answer. Well, he forgot to put he he put the answer on every card. So there there was no fake artist.

14:14 Everybody knew it. And it was such a funny thing because he he realized it but then let it play out. So we basically got to watch this game play out with everybody knowing and being like, who is the fake artist? Uh so that was pretty hilarious. The grand reveal when we all vote and then he goes, there wasn't one because I forgot. Oh, that was good. I feel like I feel like you also recently on the channel said you had a sausage sizzle game that was pretty uh pretty incredible.

14:41 We've had some pretty epic sausage sizzle against the odds people pulling. Yeah, that that game, man.

14:48 It's good stuff.

14:48 If my wife was answering this question, probably top top five.

14:54 Uh first one that comes to me was uh a game of Dead of Winter that uh was playing. It was the first time my wife was playing this game. I I want to say it was maybe a four-player game. And this is not the type of game I would necessarily think my my wife would like. Typically, she's more kind of the Euro gamer, but we're playing it and uh it is just going so poorly. We are getting wrecked. I mean, this game can do that. We're just getting wrecked. Like all hope is lost and we're So, we're getting to the end and we're just like, man, like we all like that was brutal. We just we got wrecked. We all lost the games. Too bad. Gonna Yeah. Okay. Game ends. Get ready to clean up. And then she flips that she was the betrayer and and we're just like

15:37 what you know like you know it was it was a pretty epic she and she loves that game now cuz uh all because of that moment. So

15:45 which is why you got rid of it.

15:46 Which is why I got rid of it. But um another really funny one was we were playing a game of power grid uh with some friends um when I was at in graduate school and actually you know these you know these people um and we're uh playing power grid and I'm having a good game like I'm just feeling I'm feeling really great but this is a game you remember at the end of the game you got it all comes down to how much can you power on the last turn that's that's how you win and so it's like we're building we're building and then we

16:15 um we took a pause we go we kind We're grabbing some snacks and we come back. We sit down and we go into the last round. And as I'm going into the last round, I'm like, "Oh my gosh, what's happening? Everything. I can't I can't power. I can't I can't do what I thought I could do. It all fell apart." And I'm just in disbelief. I'm like, I I don't know. I must have miscalculated. And And so I have this horrible last round. We lose or I lose the game. And And so we start cleaning up. We put everything into the box. We close the box. And then we're And then we're talking for a while. And then we're about to head out and I stand up and stuck to my rear end is probably about half of my money. And I'm just like, "Oh my gosh."

17:02 And uh that made that made a lot more sense about why my final round of power grid was was so rough uh with the money. Bamboozled.

17:09 Bamboozled. Um I blame my wife. I bet she did that. So,

17:13 yeah, she's a nice little

17:14 That was a That was a good memory. Good memory.

17:17 Nice. Uh, next up, we have just This is just a factual question. How many games do you have in your collection?

17:23 Who has more?

17:24 I don't know the exact here. Well, my kids games collection blows yours out of the water. So, I'm at about 145, I think, base games, not counting kids games. Wow.

17:34 But probably close to 190 if you count all the kids games.

17:36 Seems excessive.

17:38 Uh, and I checked for Daniel as well. compiled this. You were at 120 roughly. It's a sometimes can be a little

17:46 I prefer a more streamlined collection.

17:49 I actually um evaluate and coal my games.

17:53 Yeah, Daniel just coals the games he likes a lot.

17:55 Yeah, if you've seen previous

17:59 uh this person loved our board game collection videos. Do you use a oneinone system to manage your collection given the limited shelf space? Also curious, do you aim for games that cover a wide range of player counts, mechanics, or do you have different selection criteria?

18:17 I was going to say I prefer more of the three I prefer like the three or four in, one out.

18:22 Yeah, Ryan. Ryan, that's a very unhealthy ratio of seven in, one out.

18:26 Yeah, we, you know, over the years we've gotten rid of a lot of games. I think I've gotten rid of more games than I have. Like, if we go all the way back.

18:33 Wow. Um,

18:34 that's even more crazy. But it is slowly growing like it's definitely like getting bigger over time.

18:41 Is it always going to keep like are you ever going to cap it?

18:44 I think it's asmmptoical. You you remember m

18:49 you know where where it approaches a number but never never gets.

18:54 So like I think the more we have the slower it'll grow.

18:58 Okay.

18:59 But it'll probably always have this slight but a lot of it depends on how much we're able to play. So, like I think for both of us kind of the driving factor is like are we getting these games played and like

19:13 um there could be a game that's not getting played but if we know it's really good for a specific situation even if we don't have that situation right now we know we you know are going to want it in the future.

19:23 Um but we're pretty relentless I would say about like

19:26 I

19:27 because we love replaying our favorite games

19:31 if there's a game that we like

19:33 Yeah. but would just be taking away opportunities of playing a similar game we like more. We often will get rid of that game even if we enjoy it,

19:42 right? No, I think of like recently, you know, I played World Wonders. I enjoyed the game. Um, but in kind of that Polyomino space, played Planet Unknown and I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm always going to choose Planet Unknown." um if I'm wanting that kind of polyom different games but but if there's enough of an overlap I think that's where it's like and like you said it's it's the hitting that specific space like when we have four pe or you know four people who are looking for kind of a medium game like what's what are kind of the and and usually we're okay with having multiple options but you want multiple options

20:17 but if one's but if one's never getting chosen you know then that's the okay

20:22 that's the mirror moment of you go huh ah that game hasn't been played in a long and sometimes you just feel like I'll be looking at my shelf to pick a game and I'll realize that I'm passing over a game that

20:34 is really for the situation I'm looking for and it's like okay well if I have the situation right now and I'm not like wanting to

20:41 it's probably not

20:41 the beginning of the end.

20:43 Yeah. Now as far as the part of it of like do we try to cover a wide range of things? Totally. That's like totally our approach to building our collection is we want like our favorite games across every scenario. And so there's games I have that I don't

20:59 love, but for the specific scenario, maybe a bunch of people and like really really easy to teach, it's, you know, my favorite one in that that niche. So, um, yeah, that's honestly like our biggest selection criteria is just having a collection

21:14 that can serve up our favorites for any scenario,

21:18 right?

21:19 Uh, speaking of that, is there a game that you do not enjoy, but you still keep in your collection for certain people and situations?

21:27 Yeah, Tasty Humans.

21:31 Just uh, you know, he's afraid I'll revoke his uh, channel. get rid of it public. Go check it out, folks. Right.

21:39 Yeah. I uh when we do our top 50s, I rank every game I have in my collection, like beyond the top 50. Wow. And so I can objectively tell you what the two lowest games are that I still have. Um and so that's Hughes and Q's and Concept. They're two party games and they're party games that I don't enjoy quite as much as other party games. Hughes and Q's, my wife likes it. Uh like that's why it's still in the collection. I'm not huge on that game.

22:06 If it was just up to me, I probably wouldn't see that as one. Holding on. Concept has been a weird one where like I've had a lot of success with it. Like we've had group don't get dangle start on concept.

22:16 We'll talk about it later.

22:17 We've uh had groups like have a lot of fun playing this, but I'm kind of just so so on it as far as how much fun I have playing it. So it's not one I feel drawn to.

22:26 There was a house rule that you know made it better. Right. I also have a well I mean even with Daniel's potential house rules I don't think that's my problem with it. It's just I think the actual just gameplay I'm kind of just so

22:38 I think that one actually I was just talking about that one this last week about just with kids like maybe not even

22:43 we have concept kids actually okay there's a kids I was just going to say just for like learning to be like because here's an object and just start or like start describing something and have them

22:53 yeah it's a good kids game the kids game is all animals so like you you definitely are like constrained but um

22:59 but yeah so those are those are the two uh I've been sticking around

23:02 mine is not as objective as Ryan I didn't look at my list, but I just uh few that came to mind. So, one uh code names actually I am not huge on code name.

23:14 Yeah, I definitely like it more than you do,

23:15 which is and and I don't say I like actively dislike it. Um but a little bit lower. I think that one I just don't like the downtime of I feel like I've just had situations where we're just sitting there and it's kind of like and maybe you don't learn to make small talk.

23:29 I know I should. Um thanks Ron. Appreciate the advice. It's a good life skill. Um, but anyways, I don't know. It's one that's what got wide like a lot of people have heard of Code Names, might might know it and and I've got Codeames Duet, which u my wife and I haven't played a ton, but uh I actually enjoy that one more.

23:47 Good co-op.

23:48 I still have Say anything. Uh and it's

23:50 I didn't realize you still.

23:51 I do still have it. It's I don't know. Sometimes you keep a game because it's like what am I going to get if I sell it? Probably nothing. So, I guess I'll keep Yeah, this might be a thrift store situation. I don't know. This one has the the you know, there was a situation where we were with my wife's family on a trip and we wanted just kind of like not even wanting to but just to sit around and kind of laugh type thing and and we played this and I thought it went over pretty well. Um but not one that I'm I'm actively going to super often. So

24:21 yeah. Yeah.

24:22 I mean that's all it takes though to keep a game is like if you feel like oh there's that one situation that I don't really have a game that would have worked better than it. Guess the other one that comes to mind is GPS, which is one of the three the three. You've got mountain goats. Um, uh,

24:38 that's how they get get you. They pack and they look so nice together. But the Mountain Goats and Sequoia I actually think I Sequoa I think is great. Mountain Goats I think is good.

24:49 GPS is terrible.

24:51 I'm sorry. It's just It does not I'm I'm not a fan of it. Got to get rid of it. Um, so sorry for those of you who love GPS. It's not terrible. I just don't think it's 3 in by 3 in. They look good together. So,

25:03 yeah.

25:05 All right. Moving to from games to game mechanisms. Are there any or I guess this could be games as well. Are there any games or mechanisms you love but nobody else you play with can stand?

25:16 You can't stand.

25:18 Uh I think for me the ones that come to mind here are word games, which is just cuz there's not very many people that like playing word games. It's like me and my mom and our older brother. like the only people in my life that want to play these games.

25:31 Um, another one that comes to mind, not not so much not quite as strong as word games, but I think deduction games also have a very specific

25:41 type of person. You know, I think of a game like uh a message from the stars, which is literally word and deduction.

25:48 That's a tough combo. What's funny is I actually like that one.

25:50 Yeah. So,

25:51 I guess the words there cuz you're not a big fan of like building words. I don't tell me how to spell like whatever word Ryan said earlier. Don't ask me how to spell that one.

26:02 Yes, please spell asle.

26:06 I've never heard that in my life, Ryan. I think you just made that up.

26:08 Yeah, you slept through math class. So,

26:12 yeah. What about you, Daniel? Are there anything that you you love that other people

26:15 I mean, one I think and I've actually got some people who who I think are open to these really long games. You know, it's funny when you talk to a lot of people of what their idea of a long game is and they're like, "Man, we're playing a two hour game. That's really long." And I'm like, "Oh, you don't realize there's like TI4 done teaching." I am like I am all for like, "Let's play a game all day. TI4 like it's great." So, there's that. Also, I've just got I think there's people where some of the simple games that are older like it's like Seven Wonders. I love Seven Wonders. I

26:47 Ticket Ride is another one. Yeah. still want I want to sit down and play it. And I think a you know a lot of people I know maybe it's cuz they like trying new stuff or whatnot but they're kind of like oh we've moved past that and I'm like no no

27:01 I this sounds still great. So um I don't know I it makes it hard to get to the table cuz um

27:08 people don't people don't choose it. Another game that popped into my mind while you were talking is Tua because you are not as big on Tua. Like like a I I fortunately have a few people that like Tua as much as I do in kind of my gaming groups, but a lot of uh it's been a harder to get to the table cuz

27:24 some people don't see the beautiful game that is

27:28 that is not beautiful.

27:30 Dang it. What is the most expensive board game you own and is it worth the price? Ooh. Well, so I feel like objectively the most expensive is all my Heroescape stuff. Um there's a lot of money that's gone into that. Um

27:46 and it's totally worth it. Like I've played that a ton. I I haven't played it much recently, although again this new season of of children growing up. Like this is just going to be an incredible game to have. So I've got all the legacy stuff. We'll see about about things in the future. Um but that is definitely the most expensive board game I Yeah, we actually did a video on this. Maybe I'll remember to link it above if you actually want to see our top.

28:09 So then you can see if Ryan failed.

28:10 Top five uh most uh expensive games.

28:15 Mine I believe was Marvel United. Um and I definitely went

28:20 knowingly far more allin than I needed to. I have both of the all of the first season, all the second stuff. Yeah, I I did show restraint and not back if you can call it restraint at that point. What do you call restraint when it's already so far beyond where restraint should have?

28:38 I don't know.

28:41 But that said, I think I'm getting I'm up like 70 plus plays of this in just the last four years or so. And the great thing about board games is like it's just as playable as it was when I first got it. Like like you can just keep if you're still enjoying it, you can keep playing it and keep having payoff. So I feel that it's worth it. I mean, there's

29:04 I could have probably had an equal amount of enjoyment from just one of the seasons, but I do looking forward it is fun to be able to be like we'll still be able to down the road play with some of the X-Men stuff I haven't played. And uh so, you know, stay subscribed to the channel and see if I regret it in the future. But so far, I would say most of the games

29:23 we Well, and here's the thing that the there's a bias in the question cuz it's expensive ones you own. The fact that we still have it implies that we like still like it and I felt that it's worth it.

29:36 Um because a lot of times a more expensive game you could sell and actually, you know, get a decent amount for. That would actually be a good question. It's like what's the most expensive game

29:44 we've gotten rid of. Have to think about that.

29:47 But uh let's move on because we we are not even halfway. I don't think

29:54 people are here for the long haul. So

29:55 we may have to rapid fire a little here. Uh, let's talk about our kids a little bit. What game or games are you looking forward to playing with your children when they are old enough?

30:06 We actually had a comment that mentioned maybe doing this.

30:10 Maybe this is their question.

30:11 Maybe this is their question.

30:12 I don't know. Where my mind goes first is uh campaign games. Um, like it's just the dream setup. You know, you have the group. They're right there and you can just make it part of the daily chores, right? Got to play our game. guy if you want a guy play our game of Gloom Haven. So, no. Uh that's that's definitely I mean all game like right I mean we're going to try them all with with them but uh that's that's one that

30:36 yeah I think that's for me it's just like the opportunity to play games some of my bigger games more and stuff as they get older is exciting. Um I do specifically think of some of the like bigger two-player games that I've not

30:47 been able to play as much. The Twilight Struggles, the War of the Rings. Now maybe this is aspirational that my kids are going to want to play.

30:53 Toby will get it by next year. Yeah, Toby, give me a couple years, but I think we'll be there. Um,

30:59 but yeah, I mean, here's the thing. It's just fun to play games with kids. I mean, I'm having a blast playing when most of them are just kids games and stuff. And we're It's fun now with Toby, you know, being

31:10 the world's most seasoned 5-year-old board gamer like is we're getting a lot more into some of these family games and games that aren't necessarily kids games. It's just a lot of fun. So, it'll be interesting to see if you're interested. You know, we we did Toby's top 20 games this last year on the channel. We'll likely do his top games again. So, if you want to see how a young child's gaming preferences evolve over time, boy, do we have the content for you. I like this one. How would you feel if your child got sick of playing board games and instead wanted to, I don't know, play sports or something?

31:46 Oh, no. Uh, well,

31:48 I I I don't know if we're giving the impression that we're just like, you know, forcing our kids to to play games, which we are, but

31:57 yeah,

31:58 I mean, they have to, you know, they're probably going to be doing both of these things, you know.

32:03 I mean, but I mean, both of us I mean, this was this sports and sports and games. I mean, that's kind of a lot of our childhood, you know.

32:10 Yeah. So, we're big into sports if if that wasn't evident from certain things on the channel. Uh we both were like three sport athletes all the way through growing up. Um love love sports. So the idea of our kids playing sports there's a lot of overlap between like the even what we love about each of the things you know

32:27 the sport is literally literally a game just you know just games games all over.

32:33 Um but yeah I mean we're trying to raise well-rounded children and it's very rewarding to see your kids like be interested in anything really. like it's fun seeing that. My wife is an artist and she does a lot of art stuff with them and it's very fun to see them get excited about that.

32:48 It's really exciting to see them get interested in video editing and take that over to the channel.

32:53 We're so in on that.

32:55 Now I I think the more interesting question is maybe like how would you feel if they got tired of board games?

33:00 It would definitely like if I picture the scenario where like Toby just like wasn't that interested in playing as much anymore, it would definitely be like a sad

33:08 thing cuz it is it's been such a fun shared thing together. We don't change our name. Rolls in part of the family.

33:15 Roles in part of the family. Some of the family. Uh but yeah, I would say overall, you know, I and I think most people that have kids will relate to that of just like

33:29 I don't know. It's fun to see your kids excited about just about anything, but it is very fun to play board games with them.

33:34 Do you guys have other hobbies? Do you

33:41 what? Do you have any hobbies you enjoy more than board games?

33:44 Oh. Huh.

33:45 Um, we do have other hobbies. I would say both of us would say board games is our favorite hobby.

33:53 Yeah.

33:53 I mean,

33:54 yeah, I think

33:55 the fact that we're sitting here now

33:59 doing this, right,

34:00 um, is maybe a sign. Uh, I have a lot of other interests. Music is a big one for me, both playing. I play bass in a band. grew up taking piano lessons and stuff. Also listening to a lot of music, like watching movies. This is my obligatory moment to plug my other YouTube channel.

34:17 Get your other channel out of here, Ryan.

34:19 Yeah, I'll link it below.

34:20 No, you I'm going to delete it.

34:22 I'll hide it in the the description.

34:25 He knows I won't look there.

34:26 Um yeah. Uh so I have a YouTube channel called Ryan Recommends where I actually recommend music. I've been listening to movies. I plan to do stuff about like books. Books is another big one for me. I read a lot. Um, I think for both of us sports generally, I mean, we're big Denver sports fans.

34:42 Denver sports fans. It's a talk about the glory days, Ryan. I mean, shoot, we're we're riding a Broncos, Nuggets, Avalanche. We're rid killing it right now. So, big sports fans. Another huge one for me, I'll let Daniel speak for himself in a moment, but game design is a big one. Um, that's how I got into my career path of software engineering was making computer games with mostly our older brother when we were younger.

35:06 Um, but have done some board game design. I would love to do more board game design. Um, so I definitely love that whole side of kind of the gaming hobby as well. Kind of the design side of it.

35:18 Yeah.

35:18 What are your hobbies? What do you do?

35:20 I feel like this takes up a lot.

35:21 You said running. I don't know if you call that a hobby.

35:24 Yeah. I don't know. So I work out quite a bit. um you know obviously do the like I I even before the channel loved like editing and that kind of creative side of things. So this is why this worked out

35:37 pretty well with that. Um I yeah just like doing being outdoors doing athletic things um is is fun. Um started reading more recently. Um Ryan's inspired me. Um but uh

35:53 it was a low bar.

35:54 It was a low bar. you know, start from zero and it's only uphill from there. Um, yeah, and I don't know. I'm trying to think of like I feel like it's not this like crazy widespread thing. Love listening to music. Um,

36:08 I think since having kids, a big hobby is just like that external things. I mean most of our life obviously is our you know work and then family time and then the channel and then there's you know little pockets of you know things around that but those are those are kind of the main things.

36:27 Yeah. This person can't recall if we've mentioned it before is interested in what we both do for a living career-wise. I actually just mentioned this for me. Um I'm a software engineer. Um, so I got my degree in computer science and now work as a software engineer for the last 10 years or whatever. So programmer. Really exciting.

36:50 Really exciting.

36:51 Yeah.

36:52 Um, I am a pastor at our uh church here in Minnesota and so been doing that for uh two and a half years or so. Um, so yeah, pastor and board game. You know, it's funny when people who knew who knew that. Well, I had someone come to come to church and they were like they saw me

37:15 and they're like, "Oh my gosh,

37:17 you're from Rolls-Royce." I've had I've had that happen once, a big board game guy and and recognize. And

37:23 I've had it selling a game on Facebook Marketplace, but that's way more likely.

37:28 That is like the target demographic. Yeah. So,

37:31 yeah. Is going to know. But wow. We've made it.

37:35 We've made it, mama. Come on.

37:37 Yeah. We've done it. All right, let's talk a little bit about like our current gaming preferences and habits. Uh, this question is, what or who do your game groups consist of? Church, family, people you find on the internet, board game arena, local cons, local meetups. Do these groups tend toward certain types of gamers or are they omni? I like that term.

38:00 Yes.

38:01 I think for us, or you know, I'll speak for me that there's kind of been these two categories. It's gaming with family. So, when we go over to family things or whatever within our family, and then there's like whoever my current circle of local gaming friends are. And some of those are friends from college that have stuck around. Some of those are other friends that I've got connected in other ways that I know are into board games. And so, usually I'm the one organizing and hosting game nights and pulling in a few, you know, from that local group. So, it ends up being a pretty, you know, a lot of gaming with a lot of the same people. I try to use, you know, board gaming is a great opportunity to like bring people you haven't played with and enjoy those things together. Um, but I definitely have like some core people I go to. Not a lot on the front of like meetups, conventions.

38:54 We haven't done much of that.

38:55 Um, you know, it's hard right now with where we're at with young kids and family to like justify going to a convention. um or like any kind of regular meetup. Maybe if we didn't have this channel up our time, it's your guys's fault.

39:11 Um I think part of it also is we love gaming. Like gaming is a is an avenue for

39:18 the relationships that that we have. And so we aren't as much just like desiring to just

39:25 game with, you know, total complete strangers. Although not that we wouldn't be open to that, but most of the time we're it's it's gaming with like the people that we

39:34 Yeah. Like a lot of times if I'm scheduling a game night, one of my main things I'm going is haven't I looped in in a while. Do I like this? So Daniel's not coming this time.

39:43 Why haven't I got an invite?

39:45 But you know, it'll be like, oh, I haven't looped this person in for a while. It'd be good to connect with them. And so then it's like, okay, I know they like these games are interested in trying. And then you kind of build it out from there. Yeah. Um I think for for me um so family it's there's been a lot less gaming just with having two kids recently. I think we're starting to like we played Splender the other night. It was great. Um so we're starting to kind of go back a lot of it.

40:09 You you've been uh playing with Naomi, right?

40:11 Well, I will say that. Yeah, we've we've been uh working the I've been following the channel on your recommendations and and it's been great. So So yeah, obviously there's you know that that area is growing. Um, but I've also got kind of this group of of people at our church that uh love games as well. I actually started our own kind of Discord group and where, you know, we're scheduling uh periodically nights for people. Kind of wanted a thing where you could have this large group of people cuz scheduling is the hardest thing in the world. And so you could have a large group of people. I could just post a night that I'm available. Anyone who's available sign up to come and and then we can communicate from there. Um, and that's that works really well. So, uh, that's that's the main where where gaming happens right now for for me.

40:56 Nice. Here's a quick hitter. What is a game that makes you internally grown when someone suggests you play it at game night?

41:06 I had a hard time thinking of like one that I actually regularly play.

41:09 Yeah.

41:10 But I will say if I'm at like any kind of social gathering and somebody suggests playing Cards Against Humanity, it's maybe like the only game I would like opt out. Whoa.

41:21 Like I don't I don't know another game.

41:24 It It just is like I just really Huh.

41:27 Twister.

41:28 Oh, count me in. Remember, we're making Twister Legacy. We're It's still in the in the plans.

41:35 Um but yeah, it's just not it's not a game I enjoy. Um there's so many party games that I feel like are so much better at allowing player creativity. I don't love the dynamic I see it creating with people where I I like can tell that someone is uncomfortable with the game and is also trying to like act like they're not uncomfortable cuz they feel like the social setting is as it's the

41:57 cool thing to act like you know you're okay with it being edgier and I just I Yeah, it's just not

42:03 not one that I uh enjoy.

42:07 Yeah. Um yeah, it was kind of hard to think of this one. I I don't want to speak too strongly against this one because I can play it and I can have a fine time. But one that I am definitely not a huge fan of kind of interesting is Mysterium.

42:22 Yeah. That our family will play sometimes.

42:23 And I trying to think why I just for some reason and maybe I'm just bad at it. I don't know. Whenever I'm playing it and I'm the, you know, person getting clues, I just feel like I'm like I I don't know. I'm just like, "Huh? Okay. Maybe it's Maybe it's that. Maybe it's that. I don't really know. I'll just guess. And

42:43 yeah,

42:43 okay, I was right. Okay, I was wrong. I don't know. I just I don't know why.

42:48 I think this is an example of like cuz the internally grown some of it is like the opportunity cost of like,

42:53 well, but if we play that, we're not playing, you know, these other games we could be playing, right? Um, and I there's definitely some times where like, you know, I'll bring a bag of games to play and like the group will be like wanting to play the one that I'm like, "Okay,

43:09 I brought it cuz I Yeah, yeah, I should have not brought it as an option." But if I'm at home, you know, and everything's an option. Sometimes it gets picked that it's like, "Okay, it's not really like my top pick." But, you know, we always are about the group, you know. Well, I I tell you what, like part of our, you know, it's the challenge of trying to listen to what the group wants to play while also as kind of the board game guru like guiding the group to what you think is the best option.

43:32 And there's sometimes you got to go giving options is not helpful. I need to just say this is a good game for this situation that are you waste time too. Like you know, you're the one who knows the group best so just pick a game and let them trust you.

43:47 Yep. You heard it here first. Just listen to what we tell you.

43:51 Okay. Two options here. Either one threehour games

43:55 or two to three onehour games. Which are you picking to play?

43:59 Yeah. No, it's easy. One three-hour game. I always I always lean towards more epic, bigger, longer, whatever. I just I

44:07 Yeah, I think I I have the same answer, but I think the main reason is just I have fewer opportunities to get those games to the table. Is like more the driving factor cuz I also would love play. There's a lot lot of games that I would love playing like three,

44:19 but when I'm try whenever I have a window like that, it's like this is one of

44:24 they're way more rare opportunities.

44:25 It's way more rare to get that get that opportunity. Totally.

44:28 So, at least in this this season right now,

44:31 got to take advantage when you can.

44:34 Uh we're not going to fully answer this question, but what are each of your top three to five favorite game genres? And maybe include an example game from each genre. I think genres are hard because it's like well what are the genres? Are we talking board game mechanisms or whatever?

44:51 Like first one that came to my mind is like dexterity games.

44:54 That's true. That is a big one.

44:55 We enjoy um a lot of different dexterity games. Um and I know like Dungeon Fighter, Crokinol,

45:03 uh Ice Cool. Uh yeah, there's quite a few that are kind of in that in that space that we enjoy. Yeah, we've actually thought about doing a video series where we like pick a genre or a mechanism or something and recommend basically across complexity. So like here's a kids game that we recommend with this and here's like you know that's great

45:22 intro. Isn't that a great idea? Um so maybe maybe in the next year we'll do some of those. Um, it's hard to start to categorize the genres. So, some of like our top games where it's like they're like resource management strategy games, but like where's the line between different ones or is it just one big bucket of euro games? Um,

45:43 yeah,

45:43 I think there's actually a question here where we're maybe going to talk about do we have one about like mechanisms? Maybe not. I mean, I definitely would say that like um the kind of resource management, engine building, variable powers or abilities are all things that like feed towards some of our our favorite games. We do love cooperative.

46:10 I was going to say cooperative fan of cooperative games. Um and party games like great great.

46:17 It turns out we just like we just like every board game.

46:20 Yeah. So yeah, maybe we'll maybe we'll do some uh content this next year.

46:24 Constrain us to three to five.

46:25 Yeah, come on. Here's my top 30.

46:30 Okay. Dang it. We're now stuck on an island.

46:33 Wow.

46:34 With each other.

46:35 Okay.

46:35 And we could only bring three games to play.

46:40 Okay. Gotcha.

46:41 Presumably.

46:42 So we Oh, this is a really good question. We you and me on an island.

46:47 It's basically you have unlimited gaming time, you know. Let's not pick the game. What are we doing? We're not picking the games for the most supplies that could be used for survival by burning. Like, it's just we get to play games.

46:59 Um, that's a good question. I mean, it feels like h race for the Galaxy has to be in that, right? Don't you think

47:09 it feels like a strong contender? I think a Gria has to a strong option. You would want something cooperative. The honestly, Slay the Spire. Oh,

47:18 like it's so replayable. It's so good. Two player cooperative.

47:24 Slay the spy. You know, I was trying to think of the cooperative one. Um cuz you could like there's mage knight too many bones or something.

47:31 I think Slay the Spire is the Yeah. So So we're going Agricola, Slay the Spire, and then for a shorter one, Race of the Galaxy.

47:39 Race of the Galaxy. You know, we're definitely staying kind of in a similar lane with like there's nothing like completely um

47:48 who cares?

47:49 But who cares?

47:50 Yeah. We don't have to we don't have like this goes back to us growing up. We don't have to adjust our what we're just going to play.

47:54 It's like Twilight Struggle, but we'd end up, you know, on different camps on opposite sides of the island.

47:59 There might be there might be only one person on the island after after that.

48:02 Bloodshed. We only needed one guy.

48:05 Oh, I did consider that one. That one is also great. Yeah.

48:09 Okay. You're still on an island.

48:11 Actually, Twilight Struggle might help us find our way home. We could like figure out see where our island is and it doubles as a map. This is amazing.

48:20 Perfect. Uh D, you're still on an island now, but this time you are with your significant other.

48:26 Oh, okay.

48:26 And can bring three board games. Which three would you bring?

48:30 Yeah, this was So, we're keeping a Garcola. I mean, it's just that that was

48:33 Just leave it on the island.

48:34 Leave it, Ryan. Um nothing. Again, I was like thinking shorter and maybe it's just cuz I'm coming off a good plate. Uh Splendor that has been that one's proven the longevity. Uh the pieces could handle some water damage. Okay, I think. Um so so we're okay there.

48:50 Um and then I I didn't feel super confident about this last one. Just trying to think of another one my wife really likes is uh underwater cities. Uh is

48:58 I like this one. It's like aspirational that you're going to be able to like do something about your situation.

49:02 Gives us some vision of like hey build some tunnels. Yeah, my my wife is much uh less into the heavier strategy games. Um, so my top one I had here was Dixit mainly because if you have a bunch of Dixit cards, there's actually like

49:20 several games that and normally you wouldn't think that with two players, but like we have like some cooperative variants and stuff and it would, you know, we could be creative and maybe even come up with some new ways to using them. Um my book cgraphers um is a kind of spatial roll and right that we both um enjoy and is very replayable with just the variability of it. Um and then my wife really likes that's pretty clever. Um another kind of roll and right one.

49:44 Um I guess another one I could consider is Obsession which is a little bit of a heavier

49:49 game that's kind of more of a Pride and Prejudice theme that my wife likes but we would obviously have the time. you know, plenty of time that that that it wouldn't be the time constraint that it kind of is right now, but

50:00 I don't know. Maybe we should actually try to survive instead of just playing board games. I don't know.

50:04 What are your top game day snacks? Or are you break for a meal people? I like to think they said that kind of snoody like are you one of those break for a meal people?

50:16 We're kind of

50:16 I'm afraid we might be. I think we lean towards break for a meal. Yeah. But game day snack. I mean, Ryan, there's only one there's only one choice here.

50:24 If it's what you're gonna say, I haven't had it around for a long time.

50:27 It's Animal Crackers.

50:28 Yeah. I I haven't had Animal Cers are objectively the best board games.

50:34 Animal crackers are a good one cuz you want like very nothing that sticks to your fingers to your fingers. Um I like pretzels. Peanut butter pretzels.

50:42 Oh yeah, those peanut butter pretzels are good

50:45 are good game day snacks. I mean, in my most of my game days, we aren't eating much when we're actually playing.

50:52 Yeah.

50:53 And then we usually break for what 90% of the time is a Del Taco deliver.

50:58 That is Ryan's go.

50:59 Oh, it's a delivery now. You don't drive out.

51:01 Well, I tell you, when we have the Now that time is so much more of a constraint for games, you start to value it. We have everybody here. We could play another filler or something while we're waiting for it to get here.

51:12 Um, yeah. And we're still looking for a Del Taco sponsorship on the channel here. Yeah, I

51:18 all the Del Taco locations in Colorado closed like that tragic.

51:22 Was that a year ago or something? I I grieved for

51:24 a year for a year and then uh months later they announced that it was a reopening. It was like

51:33 it was like a taken away and given back. I was given new life, a new appre appreciation for the things I took for granted.

51:39 It's like all these board games that we sell and then we end up coming back around and buying them again. It's kind of like that except what alternative was there to

51:46 Del Taco?

51:47 That's very true. Well, yeah. Um,

51:49 Taco Bell

51:50 I, uh, I feel like for meals, I more so pick up a pizza. Like that's been my go-to. Just pick up a pizza to, you know, to have and and bake. And so that's kind of been my go-to recently.

52:01 Oh, like a Papa Murphy's take and bake.

52:04 Yeah, I'll do Papa Murphy's or just like at Aldi. I'll just pick up one of their fresh pizzas. And

52:08 you and your Aldi's out there.

52:10 Oh, that's amazing. We don't we don't have amazing.

52:14 Uh, all right. How do you Dang, I'm curious. Go about determining a budget for what you spend on games or other hobbies?

52:24 I don't. Uh, no. So, yeah. No, this will be interesting. So, I I mean, I don't know. I I run the budget in the house, so I just do what I want.

52:34 Just kidding. Uh, no. typically. So, we've uh my wife and I kind of we each you know amidst we run a tight ship around here. We got kind of and within the budget line we've got a you know Daniel spending and a you know Kaye spending and so

52:49 buying board games falls within that you know regular

52:52 is that like the large percentage like is that most of your

52:55 it's most of your personal spending

52:59 like do you

53:00 I'm saying does most of your personal spending go towards board games or are there other things that

53:08 um no there's it goes towards other things too. Um, here's the hard thing. Like, a lot of the games I get are birthdays, Christmas, like you know, I'll get I'll get a few throughout the year, but

53:20 Well, Daniel's the opportunistic Facebook marketplace sniper. He looks for

53:26 you you cuz you know, you see something that's a good deal.

53:29 Yeah. Know, Ryan and I are very different. Ryan is like, "Here are the games I want to buy and I'm going to get these whether it's birthday, Christmas, or my own spending.

53:37 I'll keep a look, you know, look out secondhand." But I like board games and there's lots of great board games out there and who knows which ones are going to be my favorite. So I'm just going to have a wider range and when deals pop up on any one of those I'll jump on it. So

53:50 it's worked out pretty well for you. I'd say

53:52 I mean I still like board games. So

53:55 um yeah. So I I have very similar, you know, in our our family budget have a personal spending that I use pretty much entirely for either games or books. It's like all and that's all I get for gifts. like like it's just I'm a simple man. Dang. I'm a simple man.

54:10 Um I did have a change, you know, this is where I start to get nerdy that I have all these like life systems and tracking and things um and setting goals and whatever. Um a recent change in like that was probably like two years ago that I started tying my monthly spending budget to my prior months like habit performance. I've thought about that. If I do a worse job of like keeping on top of things like, you know, exercise and all these other things, I'll actually have

54:40 less spending money than I would have had, but I I do actually have the opportunity now that I could have a little bit more than I would have had because I basically realize like, you know, would I pay $15 to like guarantee I'd be better on all these habits and be like, that would be a pretty

54:57 find that external motivation is strong enough. It actually works pretty well, which maybe that just speaks to how much I like books and board games. The other thing though is with habits is like once you get the ball rolling and you get, you know, you get some good inertia going. Um, but yeah,

55:13 so there you go. Consider, but I will say like

55:17 I think both of us would say that time has been the bigger constraint on our hobby

55:22 than money. Like I there's a lot of times now where I'm just like I don't need a new big game. I need to go get like all these.

55:30 I already I have several games on the shelf I got to get played that before getting getting more. And it's gonna be great, Ryan. Once uh we can start writing off all our board game acquisitions as business expenses.

55:39 Oh, yeah. Still waiting for that.

55:42 Yeah. We'll see once our kids get older and suddenly maybe we have a lot more opportunities to play games. Maybe it'll start hurting the the budget again. But we'll see. You don't need to put that much money into the board game hobby to

55:57 You don't

55:58 like you can with a small collection enjoy a lifetime.

56:02 That's true. We could have just stuck with Dominion. There's plenty of replayability.

56:06 Like I I think we need to more normalize that collections don't need to be like massive and ours are much bigger than most people,

56:13 you know, would need to have fun in the hobby.

56:16 Uh let's see. We're taking a little bit of a turn here to the YouTube channel.

56:20 Yes. Why did we decide to do this? Dang,

56:23 is this like out of a like I hate the channel type thing?

56:26 Um, so we'll try not to make this too lengthy seeing as we're coming up on an hour here, but

56:32 Daniel and I actually both had YouTube channels prior to this mine separately technically

56:39 separately. I can go check out uh

56:42 and I think actually a big driver was my wife with her art business. We were getting into some YouTube stuff to do some stuff for her online business. So, I was doing stuff with that and we were kind of learning. It made me kind of all the learning about it made me want to kind of do something. And so, I actually started a channel called Ludo Lodge. You can still find it if you didn't if you've seen it before and didn't know it was me. It was me. Um, where I basically was resources for game designers. So, I was doing a lot of like here's how in tabletop simulator you can prototype your games and whatever. And actually got some really good traction on that channel. I mean, it's got like twice as many subscribers as this channel does. Are you serious? Um, it's basically on hold until I I could see rebooting it up a little bit if I was doing more game design stuff myself.

57:23 Mhm.

57:23 Um, but a little bit on hold there. Um, so I was kind of doing that stuff and then you were doing your

57:29 what was Dang, it was just your personal Dang Wang. And you were doing like kind of lifestyle tech reviews and some stuff and you loved

57:38 the idea of a YouTube channel and the editing and everything,

57:42 but even before we talked about this, you were kind of like, I don't know that this is what I want to be

57:48 doing.

57:49 And so something, you know, we ended up having a conversation at one point that

57:54 and I had had thoughts of like maybe someday doing something like this. I don't know if we had really thought about doing it necessarily together, but once we got talking about it and with both of our experience with YouTube

58:04 and realizing that you kind of like doing the editing side of things and like I kind of like doing more of the

58:11 strategy and direction side of things, it was like, okay, this this could work. And so we we went into it very intentionally and with some

58:18 prior experience to draw on kind of like how to do YouTube. Um maybe that came across or not in the videos. Although I tell you, I go back and look at some of our early videos and I was like, we've come a long way with how look and sound quality and stuff.

58:30 Um,

58:32 but yeah, and we haven't looked back. We we committed from the beginning of we thought

58:36 we could do a video a week, right? That was from like the very start.

58:40 Start. Yeah.

58:41 And for the most part, three years later here

58:45 this morning we didn't post a video.

58:46 Yeah. Literally as a recording.

58:48 Yeah. There's we we we both work full-time jobs. So sometimes uh and being a pastor, there's seasons, you know, especially around Christmas, Easter, where things get a little crazy. So

58:59 yeah.

59:00 And so kind of related to that, this person's asking with the channel, how do we split production roles from deciding which games to feature, scripting, filming, editing? How has the brotherly dynamic helped or hindered the channel's creative direction? And what does the other brother bring to the table that you on your own could never replicate? Okay,

59:16 so right now the the division of responsibilities, Daniel does pretty much all the editing and thumbnails.

59:26 Um, I have taken as we've added in shorts. You may have noticed that we've started posting shorts. I've been clipping and editing all the shorts. I'm using a tool that makes that a little bit easier on me. Uh, but then I do most of the

59:40 creative direction for the channel. It's not uncommon for Daniel to show up to the video not knowing what video we're filming that morning.

59:46 Part of the channel, you know, people like part of the vibe.

59:49 Um, and so I'll do scripting when we do reviews, I'll do most of the scripting or we'll do some like collaboration, but then I'll do most of the scripting on the reviews.

59:58 Um,

59:59 so I as far as like kind of what the we each bring to the table, I think that's been one of the biggest advantages on the channel is the way we kind of complement each other's strengths.

1:00:08 Yeah. Um, you know, it obviously helps that we have so much history playing board games together and just love board games, love talking about games. So that like a lot of what the channel demands of us comes very naturally.

1:00:20 There there is this whole side thing to the channel of, you know, we're I we don't live in the same state, so we don't see each other super often. So it's an outlet for me to talk to.

1:00:30 We do talk to each other a lot more than we would.

1:00:33 No. So it's even that side of it just for our relationship has been has been fun. Yeah. So, it's it's been good. Um be interesting to see where it goes in the in the coming years.

1:00:43 Yeah. And I Well, in terms of what you what you bring to the table, like this is me coming from my previous channel, just the strategic d like giving a direction like I I loved the editing. I loved all of that, but I did not like thinking of like what video should I I was just coming up with random stuff and there was no, you know, so bringing that like uh like and editing for me was always like what's the bare minimum I can do here to like push out something usable. So

1:01:11 So there you go.

1:01:15 Okay. Some of these should be a little quicker heavy hitters. Uh this person just brought Dwellings of Elderville but has heard that Andromeda's Edge is better. Hasn't opened it yet. Should you trade it in for Andromeda's Edge?

1:01:25 Uh, that's a hard question. Like, they're 90% similar. Um, and some people might some people might prefer dwellings. Um, I do personally think they cleaned up some stuff in Andromeda's Edge. I feel like first like started with just like the theme of like which you know if is there one that like you strongly gravitate towards.

1:01:46 Um,

1:01:47 my recommendation would be you have Dwellings of Elder Veil,

1:01:51 so try it. I would try it because there's a third possibility here which is that you don't really like it.

1:01:57 Yeah.

1:01:57 In which case you're probably not gonna like Andromeda's Edge.

1:01:59 That's true. If you like absolutely do not like it. Yeah. You won't like it. Although Ryan the box size of Andromeda's Edge is well depending on which one they get. I guess if you get the deluxe it's huge. But I love that streamline.

1:02:11 So my my recommendation would be play Dwellings of Elderville. Then I would go look at like some reviews of the differences

1:02:17 and see if they make you go cuz for us that's what it did for me.

1:02:22 I played dwellings. It was fun. And then I watched a review and I was like, "Oh, okay. That was actually something I didn't enjoy that they made that I liked more." But that might

1:02:31 thematic draw might might be in play there.

1:02:34 Right.

1:02:34 Uh are there any Agricola expansion decks you recommend? Well, we take the purest approach of shuffle all the cards together, but we so we don't get any of the like exotic decks, but with the revised edition, we have the AB CD. And I actually picked up the E deck. Daniel doesn't have the E

1:02:51 E deck. Um,

1:02:53 it's been ruined by,

1:02:54 especially in the revised edition. All fantastic. Can't go wrong with any of those decks.

1:02:59 Phenomenal.

1:03:00 Can

1:03:01 uh when can we hang out so I can get a play of Arsed Reach? It has been taunting on my shelf all year.

1:03:08 You played uh you played this.

1:03:09 I did. I did. And our sister loved it. Um and won. I feel you on this one because it's not an easy game to get to the table. You need the right couple of people. Um

1:03:20 honestly, it's it probably takes some some proactive initiative from the person that has the game to try to curate that group, right? You have to find

1:03:29 who do I know that would like this and would be able to commit to it. And for some people, the answer might be, I don't have the group, which is sometimes the sad reality with certain games that it's like, okay, I just like can't get this to the table.

1:03:41 So, I'm sorry. I'm I'm not going to be able to fulfill that need for you. I'm honestly wondering when I'm going to get to play it again. I know our

1:03:48 sister and now fiance

1:03:51 are interested in playing it again. So,

1:03:54 that's why we welcomed him into the family. Yes, he proposed in arcs as he just kidding. Um

1:04:02 I this person likes rogike video games. You and me both. Outside of the Slay the Spire board game, do you have any other suggestions for board games that could help satisfy this interest? I actually am interested in this question as well. If people want to drop in the uh comments games that give that rogike feel. Uh, the most obvious one that comes to mind to me is Paperback Adventures because it's literally like the Slay the Spire formula, but it's building words. It's a word game. So, that's gonna

1:04:28 either it's going to be the perfect recommendation or it's going to be a terrible recommendation depending on whether you like

1:04:33 uh that. The other two, I'm curious, Daniel, if you have any thoughts here. Um, Mage Knight and Too Many Bones came to mind as bigger games that kind of are oneoff. Well, I was gonna I was going to, you know, go off the Too Many Bones route of Elder Scrolls, um, The Betrayal of the Second Era. Like, I've played I've only played the first, you know, part of it, but that one definitely gave the like you're uh exploring around and go, you know, um, that kind of experience. Um, so that would be my It's a very large game, but

1:05:02 yeah, a lot of these recommendations, I guess, are skewing a little bit more. Those games can be played multiplayer, but solo as well. I know two games that I haven't played that are solo only, but I know are in this lane are Unstoppable is a newer one um from John Declair and Warps Edge is another one I've heard good things about. So, you might check those out.

1:05:20 Cool.

1:05:21 Uh this person would love to know our favorite twoplayer campaign games. Specifically looking to play with my wife. She generally enjoys lighter games in the collection and my city went down so well. We'd love to get another legacy or campaign game played with her. I feel like the what are our favorites and what do we recommend for this situation are probably different answers.

1:05:42 They are different. Yeah. I mean my my favorite two-player campaign game is Arkham or the card game which is not what I would recommend in this situation per se.

1:05:51 Um although you know who knows I've got maybe your wife uh would be interested in

1:05:55 hering my city doesn't mean she does overlap but it doesn't mean she won't. So

1:06:00 yeah, this was tricky. I didn't uh think about it a lot, but the one that came to mind that has kind of a light campaign element and is a little bit more work on your own think puzzly is Welcome to the Moon.

1:06:10 Uh Welcome to is a really good kind of flip and right game and I really like the Welcome to the Moon and what it brings with like different scenarios. I could see somebody who liked my city liking Welcome to the

1:06:20 Would you call Codeames duet a campaign? Like doesn't that have a like a very light

1:06:25 It's the lightest campaign. It's like slightly changed. Now there's one fewer clue. You're now in Bombay. It's a campaign. I like it.

1:06:37 Um

1:06:38 Mark on the uh you know cross office

1:06:40 legacy.

1:06:43 I mean again the my city to me is like puzzly working on my own thing. So it's hard to know how much Marsh but I I would highly recommend Welcome to the Moon based on that. I I think that's a a great suggestion.

1:06:53 Cool.

1:06:54 Are there any board game designers that you follow and anticipate their next games more than others? Um, and I guess I'll put the followup. Any interest in the upcoming agricula spin-off by Awaken Realms Dead Harvest? I don't know that we specifically follow designers as much as we recognize there's name

1:07:14 recogn an an ouay Rosenberg game. At least gets us like, huh?

1:07:20 Except that there's also so many that it's gotten to the point where it kind of doesn't. It's like I need to give it time. Like I don't get hyped about the new Uve Rosenberg releases. I get hyped

1:07:32 eight years later when there's one of those releases that is like

1:07:35 still popular.

1:07:36 Yeah. Like has kind of risen to the top. I mean that's kind of what happened with Howler is like it was quite a bit later that I I kind of was still seeing some stuff about it and ended up really liking that one.

1:07:46 Yeah.

1:07:47 Uh speaking of u Gria. Yes. Awaken realms is making this dead harvest uh which is a very funny twist. A zombie themed to Gricola. Honestly, I don't know that we really have any interest in it. Do you have any interest in it?

1:08:00 No, I remember seeing it. I thought it was a joke at first. Um, and

1:08:03 yeah, and it might be good. We didn't back the

1:08:06 Yeah.,

1:08:07 you know, normal Gula campaign either. We're kind of content with our revised editions. Um, I'm I'm curious to see what it does. I don't know that I feel a strong pull to need to try.

1:08:16 Just blows a Galo away. It's just

1:08:18 they're just like this is the definitive version of a Galo. Yep. That'd be great.

1:08:24 Okay. Dang. We got to wrap this thing up with some miscellaneous questions. If you're still watching this, thanks for sticking around.

1:08:30 Uh, this is very related um, as far as game designers. Which game creators are your favorite and why? Are there any new game creators in the past 12 to 18 months that you've learned about that you would recommend checking out? This is a hard question. Um,

1:08:44 I don't I'll just preface it all with I don't pay attention to like games. I really don't. Like this is a rhyme question. I just play fun games. I don't care who made it. So there's a lot of designers that I know pop up like multiple times in our, you know, top 50. So Uve Rosenberg is a really obvious one. I have a Gria, Feast for Road, and Howard Tower, all staples in my collection. Vlad Shivato is a classic um that we he did very versatile. Mage Knight, Through the Ages, but he also did Code Names. He also did Galaxy Trucker. I I feel like there's other ones I'm forgetting that we played from him. Yeah. Um Paul Denin from uh Direwolf has done Clank and Dune Imperium.

1:09:24 Um which those are two Clank Catacombs specifically games I enjoy a lot. Got to give a shout out to Tom Layman with our Race for the Galaxy play. And then I really like Resarch Arcana which is a newer game from him. Uh we've given Quax a lot of love which is Wolf Gang Wars. He also did that's pretty clever in Wavelength which are some other games I have. Um, and then the last one here I had that had multiples in our top 50 is Simone Luciana. Might not be pronouncing that right, but did Lorenzo Ill Magnificico and Grand Austria Hotel. And I know there's other games that I'm intrigued to try. I think uh Voyages of Marco Polo um is also by him.

1:10:01 Uh the second question as far as like new creators, that's really hard to like think off of. Like I forget like if I've played a game that was actually from like a newer designer, one I didn't know. The only one I could really think of right away was Matias Wiggy who did Arknova

1:10:19 only cuz it's amazing that that's his first published design and it's an absolute

1:10:25 home run.

1:10:26 Um so that's definitely one that it's like well I think we should be pretty interested in kind of what he's working on next. I know Sanctuary came out which is like the newer

1:10:35 spin-off of Arcanova, right?

1:10:38 Um but yeah, lots of good game designers. What's a board game that you would love to redesign or be on a team to create a sequel board game for?

1:10:49 How about you take it, Daniel?

1:10:50 Yeah. Well, getting back to our discussion earlier, I want to be on the redesign team. Let's make this brief.

1:10:54 Uh, yeah. No, it just a simple redesign. This game um needs to uh not be a competitive game. It needs to be a cooperative game. There's my redesign. Okay.

1:11:04 As in concept.

1:11:05 Did I not say concept?

1:11:06 I don't think so.

1:11:07 Okay. Yeah. Sorry. Concept. Um, yeah. If it was if it was a I think it was meant to be a cooperative game. The only other thing is and I know they're redesigning it right now um is Heroescape. I would love to just be a part of the vision cuz I think there's so much potential

1:11:20 like if they just keep leaning into this and create different you know like game like we talked a little bit about like game modes and stuff like I think there's a lot. Yeah. No, that's awesome.

1:11:31 Uh yeah, it's funny. If you'd asked me this like 6 months ago, I actually would have said there's this little known game that like almost nobody knows from way back called Magical Athlete that we played way I actually don't know if you played it, but I played way

1:11:45 and I always was like this it looked horrible like the first version just like the board is is probably Hall of Fame like worst board game boards. Um but it was such a quirky fun little game of this like roll and move with crazy powers. I was like, man, I feel like the right team could do a really good job with this. Well, lo and behold, this year CMK reprints Magical Athlete with none other than Richard Garfield at the helm of leading development. So, I was like, well, that was left in good hands and I now have that version and they did a great job with that.

1:12:19 Um,

1:12:20 so yeah, I don't know if there's other ones that come to mind as far as

1:12:24 redesigns or sequels. Mhm.

1:12:28 There any favorite board game podcasts you all enjoy?

1:12:32 I don't really listen to board game podcasts at all.

1:12:35 I don't really listen to podcasts.

1:12:36 I do listen to podcasts, mostly sports podcasts, some other uh some others, but

1:12:41 miscellaneous ones.

1:12:42 Yeah.

1:12:43 Yeah. I I consume most of my like board game content through YouTube channels. I mean, I like reference Board Game Geek, but it's as far as like subscribing to content creators, it's mostly YouTube stuff. Um, I know there's a friend of mine, uh, Tyson, who's one of the hosts on the Longest Turn podcast. Um, I've listened to it a little bit, but I don't really listen to podcasts, so but I'll give him a shout out. You can go check out The Longest Turn.

1:13:09 Cool.

1:13:09 Speaking of turns, do you ever use a turn timer? No. There's only one time I've used a turn timer, and that's when my son and I were getting into chess this year.

1:13:21 Oh, nice.

1:13:22 We did get a little chess timer. ruthless there on your

1:13:24 Well, it's so I can have less time.

1:13:27 Okay. I'm like a little bit

1:13:31 and Well, no, Ryan. I I did uh within the within the last year when in our Star Wars Imperial Assault campaign, uh we did bring in a turn timer. Um cuz things were just our the Imper the Rebel turns were just taking a little too long and and we're like, "Hey, we're in the heat of battle. Like, you don't you don't get all day to make a decision here. Like, let's uh let's go." So, we did we did use a turn timer.

1:13:53 Wow. And was that did it turn out to be

1:13:55 I think it was helpful. Yeah. Not everyone loved it, but I think it was helpful.

1:13:58 Yeah, I had a lot of fun.

1:14:00 And the question everybody has been waiting for. What is your favorite Pokemon?

1:14:05 Mhm. And make the noise of that Pokemon.

1:14:09 Yes. Danny, would you like

1:14:11 I will start off with the best Pokemon.

1:14:14 Snorlax.

1:14:17 Snorlax.

1:14:17 Snorlax. Classic. Snorlax. Great. I always wanted Snorlax whenever I was playing Pokémon.

1:14:23 I don't know that I ever had like a favorite Pokemon, but I did have a season where I really liked Togepi. Okay.

1:14:30 The little like star Pokemon in a diaper. Uh mainly because Yeah. What move did Togepi have?

1:14:36 Cuz it learns Metronome. And Metronome is the one where it picks a random move. And I just thought it was so fun to just buff Togepap like crazy and just random random move everybody to oblivion. It just made that game a lot.

1:14:51 Pokemon Crystal. That was a key part of our childhood.

1:14:54 Yeah. Yeah. Pokemon Crystal was the one way back. You could leave below what was what was your most iconic Pokemon game that then we'll know you listen this long.

1:15:02 Yeah. And then we'll know the few people that actually listen to the very end of this thing.

1:15:08 Thanks for watching. We do this uh topic every single year. So wait uh for next year where uh we will be answering more of your fine questions. And we've got some videos here that you can check out. Uh lots of videos just for you. We'll see you in the next