10 People Who Impacted My Gaming Journey & A General Storytime

0:00 Hey, I'm Alex Rle from Board Game Co. and this is a bit of a storytime video. This is 10 people who have been impactful in my board game journey in some way, shape, or form. And the most important thing to get out of the way very early on, this is not an exhaustive list. There are so many people who have impacted me in so many different ways and I've debated which ones to include like which ones felt right in this video including including the fact that there's a person in this list who I've never talked to never once but I still want to thank him because of a way that he's impacted my board game journey. So like this is not exhaustive. It's not even a priority. It's just the pen I ended up choosing. There are so many people I'm grateful for. From the very first board game that I ever got introduced, the very first designer board game my brother introduces me to Game of Thrones. the board the Game of Thrones the board game first edition way back when that might be the first designer game I've ever played there's so many people there's viewers I debated mentioning successful geek successful you almost made the cut for this video he's someone who uh followed the channel early on like way early on was one of the first followers of the channel built the Discord and has been along for the for the road the entire time he's someone I'm still friends with so like there are so many people from from my ex-wife who was incredibly supportive when I first started doing these videos started getting into this so Like it's there are so many people who have been impactful in so many different ways.

1:17 This is not an exhaustive list. Which is also a good segue to our channel sponsor Allplay because Joe Wiggins uh is also one I'm grateful for. He's someone who uh did the sponsorship for the channel. And Allplay, if you go to allplay.com, you can see anything from the variety of shelves you see behind me, from the board game table that is almost here, but not yet, but you will see in future videos, to the variety of board game bags and playmats. You can get a ton of things from our channel sponsor allplay over at allplay.com. But with that said, with the disclaimers out of the way, the fact that this is not an exhaustive list, and if I missed you, it's either because you actually aren't that important or because I forgot or because I just had to choose 10. Uh, let's go ahead and dive into this. I am going to do this in story time mode. I'm going to do this from the first person I met to the last person I met, sort of with some caveats as to the way I structure that, and I'll explain as I get into it. But I'll start with the first one and some names. I'm debating this first one. I won't mention his name. Um the longer I'm not going to mention the person's name, but the first person is my old boss because when I first started getting into board games, hi Elfie. I'm also grateful for the cats. They didn't make the cut either. When I first started getting into board games, uh I worked for a different company way back when.

2:30 And I worked as a uh kind of half programmer, half purchaser for a food and a medical distribution company that primarily serves nurses nursing homes. And at one point while I was at that job, they were almost going to build a website. This company is almost going to build a website. And so they brought in this company to build this website to get to scope it out. They didn't end up doing it, but they wanted to scope it out. They wanted to get a quote. And they brought this company. And the person who came was the the CEO of this company, the owner of this company. And I at the time had oh my gosh, what was the game called? Co co oh my gosh with a K. It starts with a K like not Konami. Something like that. It's this it's this game with like this these the board is basically colored blocks and you move these towers around the board and wherever you move your tower it forces your opponent to respond by moving that color tower and you're trying to basically structure it so they they they you open up an opening and then you get to the other side and you win. I think it starts with a K. can't remember the name of it, but I had that on my desk and this owner, the CEO of this web development agency saw the game, asked me about it. There's cats running around. Do not mess things up, guys. Uh, they saw the game, asked me about the game, and then we ended up playing the game. Like, we ended up playing a few rounds. He really liked it, and then we stayed in touch. Fast forward 6 to 9 months later when I left that company, and I reached out. I reached I left the the the food distribution, medical distribution company, and I reached out to a few different people in my network, including this person. and he gave me a job opportunity. He gave me a job opportunity where I worked for the next

4:00 seven years. And I debated putting him on this list because he didn't have a huge impact in my board game journey, but I met him through a board game. A board game that was set on the table. If not for that board game, I would absolutely not have interacted with him past that. He was interested in the board game. We play the board game. We we had further board game interactions over the years. I recommended and gave him board games. Like there definitely was like he I was still working for that company when I first started my YouTube channel. So, he was along for the ride to a large extent. He didn't have a huge impact on my board game journey, but he did have a huge impact on my life. Uh, he did unfortunately die in a plane crash, which was horrific and sad. Um, but that was years years later is after I left the company, but he is definitely somebody who had a big impact on the direction my life took and I met him through a board game.

4:49 The next person is Aldi. Aldi, Scott Alden, the uh owner of Board Game Geek. And I did meet Aldi later in this. Again, this is like the es and flows of the story time. I met Aldi. I've met Aldi online in person. I've interacted a lot. Like, we know each other at this point, but I didn't know him where he is in the story, but I did interact with Board Game Geek. I don't remember exactly when this happened. I don't remember when it first started. Uh, I I I I'm pretty sure it was after I met this owner who then employed me, but I don't remember the exact arc of when I started using Board Game Geek more and less. I do know that I put him at this place in the story because I started using Board Game Geek in a very heavy way later on. So, after working for this company, after meeting this guy, playing this game, getting hired, I started using Board Gamegeeek more more seriously to start trading board games.

5:40 It's how I got started in Board Game Co., the channel I do now, is because I started trading board games on Board Game Geek. Then I turned it into a business a little later on like an official like I I did it my own thing then it was like a business out of my basement and then later it was an actual business but along the way board game geek oh and then later much later I started doing social media Instagram to promote board game co then YouTube to promote board game co then decided I like YouTube more than boardame co so I just did YouTube and not boardame co which is still board game co just different different things but board game was a huge part of anything I've done I would not be where I am today if not for Board Game Geek, if not for the way I use the platform, if not for the trading I was able to do on the platform. As I slowly grew from an individual just doing my own thing in my basement to an actual business running, I kind of played with the board gamegeeek rules to a certain extent like with their awareness and knowledge of what I was doing. But I was in a weird unique space where I wasn't a business the same way others are, but I was certainly acting as a business. It was whatever I was able to do there was through the use of the platform, through the use of their trading tools, through their marketplace to a large extent. I I for a long time I exclusively sold on the boardamegeeek marketplace before opening my own online store. Everything I did in the early years was exclusively through Boardame Geek. And even as I branched out, I still used Board Gamegeeek very heavily as a tool that was able to help me conduct my business.

7:02 And while I did meet Aldi years years later uh in like meaning again I knew who he was beforehand. We had interacted loosely but like I managed to really meet him years later but the real influence he had on my life is not through the social connection I have with him. It's through the website that he built that enabled me to do the things that I was able to do that were the prompt for me starting a YouTube channel in the first place that is entirely responsible for basically everything I do in life right now. So, to a large extent, it does all trace back to Aldi. I mean, there is a larger conversation about the butterfly effect of anything. I could probably thank my friend in first grade because he probably pushed my life in the direction it is. The butterfly effect is all over the place. I'm choosing things that are more more impactful to where I am today. Number three is Dan Pek. Kind of the same reasoning he is here, but Dan Pek is it was a Okay, let's let's take a step back. I started this business on board gamegeeek where I was trading games and I was working for this e-commerce company uh along at the same time and someone every once in a while people would say oh I know this other guy who plays board games and 99% of the time it's somebody who maybe has katan just as often they just have like you know too many copies of snakes and ladders and monopoly in their closet and someone took that as board games but sometimes they have katan like sometimes that's they have and they like board games too.

8:28 And I was told somewhere around this time, maybe 2014, I want to say 2013 maybe, I was told that I know this guy who's into board games the way you are, which I had heard so many times before. And then one day I got a knock on my door, genuinely knock on my door and I opened the door and it was this guy that I had been told about who has lived in the community who had been told about me and he is like in the neighborhood and he just like is like I'll stop by, say hi. and he assumed the same thing I did, which is the other guy is not a real board gamer. I don't mean that to gatekeep. I just mean that you don't have the quantity. You're not sucked into the hobby. You aren't watching board game reviews. You have Katan and maybe Carcassone. That's what a That's what the board gamers we expected are. And he walked into my basement and he realized I was a real board gamer. Again, not to gatekeep anyone. that developed into a friendship which developed further into actually starting this business when I turned when I went from running this board game co operation trading buying selling games I was running out of my basement when it was growing to the point where that was not sustainable he owned a warehouse he had a separate business that he did but he owned a warehouse warehouse as part of this business and he's like why don't we do this together why don't we build board game code together and and grow that as an entity and so I did moved to North Carolina I didn't move to North Carolina the games moved to North Carolina I went to North Ina, moved over all the games, grew it from 1,500 games to like, you know, I can't remember how many we had towards the tail end, maybe 30,000 games, something like that. And then by the end of the operation, like we had a lot of games in stock by the end of the whole thing when I finally shut it down in 2022. But Dan Pek was a business partner and a friend for a big

9:58 part of those years. He did eventually move away, which made it harder to play games with him. I still appreciated him. I still appreciate him. Uh he's a great guy. He's a prince of a human being. was delightful to be a partner with in running a business and again a big part of of my arc in this space. I wouldn't be where I am if not for how that relationship developed. Number four, I debated whether he makes the cut, but I don't think it's fair to not include him because in 2022, in 2020, no, in 2019, I started my YouTube channel. 2022 was when I left my job to do YouTube full-time, but in 2019, I started my YouTube channel. In 2020, I did a video early on of 10 content creators that I liked. Uh, and different reasons for them, but it's basically 10 content creators who I watch, who I get value from. It's a series that I still do to this day. I regularly will update like who am I most getting value from nowadays? Who am I most enjoying their content nowadays? Uh, and in 2020, I did a video with 10 content creators who I really liked, respected, appreciated, looked up to in some way, or just enjoyed their content. And one of the people on the list was Quacklo. Now Quacklo, Jesse, again, I I debated putting him here because he has he did have drama and blowup over the years.

11:15 And it's complicated, but he was definitely a real friend. Like there's no question he was a real friend for a long time. He was one of the few people, possibly the only person who like reached out. Not just like a showed up like a bunch of the contributors who I talked about showed up in my comments being like, "Oh, awesome. Glad you enjoy our content." Which is nice. That's a good thing to do. Like I appreciate that. But Jesse was the only one who really reached out and we started a conversation and then we started talking how could we collaborate, do videos together, do a podcast together, all these different things. But we decided that we wanted to like continue to grow in this YouTube space together. And for a long time, we did a lot of things together. He was a real friend, like a genuine friend. He wasn't just someone I collaborated with. He's someone who I there was a point where I would call him like daily just to like talk about what's going on. Like I enjoyed talking to him about the space. It is a relationship that did fizzle uh before things blew up. Before things blew up on his channel, it's a relationship that fizzled as we kind of had different approaches to the way we did things and that slowly impacted the way we engaged and what started as an incredibly strong relationship became a weaker and weaker relationship and drama blew up. And the goal of this is not to focus on the drama. goal is that for all the pros and cons of that relationship and how how things ended, he was a real friend who I did grow in this YouTube space with, who I did collaborate with and enjoyed those years of collaboration and like he did a lot of good. Like he again things ended a little differently, but he did a lot of good. He always was focused on how do I

12:45 help indie publishers? He always appreciated an indie publisher and wanted to help them grow in the space. He had been indie once upon a time. He appreciated that putting in the leg work and trying to power through hard times and all that. And he was definitely an impactful part of my journey. There's no question about that. The next person, number five, is a little tricky. A little tricky. Not not the tricky might sound the wrong that makes it sound that makes it sound controversial. It's not. The next person is Helena Capel, uh, who owns KTBG and Burnt Island Games. Kidable Board Games, Emperor Island Games. And the reason she's here is because she is one of the first. That's the tricky part. She's not the first. I'll I'll I'll mention the first two, but I I specifically wanted to include her because I think she was the second, possibly the third, but I think the second. Let's say the second.

13:32 Okay. I just I think the second. She was the second person to ever send me a game as a publisher because she saw my channel, saw my videos, and sent me a game to cover. The very first, which I'll mention, this is an extra. The very first is actually Daily Magic Games. No, no, she is the third. She is the third. I just remember the order. It was Northguard, Daily Magic Games, and Helena from uh Burnt Island Games, basically. And I'll I'll talk about all three, but Helena is the one I'm focusing on because even though she was the third, not the first, she is she's been a part of the journey over the years versus the others less so. But I think the very first person to send me a game to cover as a content creator cuz I grew in content creation by covering my own games and covering crowdfunding. I didn't need publisher relationships to do that. And I did not seek out or engage with publisher relationships for a long time. My channel grew and publisher relationships followed naturally. I never like tried to make them happen. I just was here to talk about board games. I had a lot of board games. When I first started this, I was running a board game store. I had plenty of access to board games. I didn't need the relationships that sometimes you do need in this industry because you either you always need to start by kind of covering what you have, covering things that don't need the games or building relationships. I was able to do the first two very effectively and so I didn't seek out board game relationships, publisher relationships for a long time. Like there's a board game group, if you are a content creator, there's a board game group like board game reviewers and media. Highly recommend you join that early on. You'll build those relationships a lot faster.

14:53 I didn't join that for a long time. I didn't know it existed for a long time. I was just doing my own thing and it was working out. But the first publisher who ever sent me a game was Northguard. I pretty sure it was Northgard. They sent me a game to cover. They had a crowdfunding campaign. I was covering crowdfunding at my own games and they're like, "Hey, we have this prototype for Northgard Uncharted Uncharted Lands. Do you want to cover it?" And I did. So, I'm grateful for them for giving me the opportunity as the very first one that did. Then there was Daily Magic Games who sent me Shadows of Valyria designed by Stan Kadonsky, who I later met later, but at the time I didn't know who he was, but uh they I didn't know Daily Magic Games cuz I love Valyria Card Kingdoms. They sent me Shadows of Valyria to cover that game, Shadow Kingdoms. Shadow Kingdoms of Valyria. uh which I which I enjoyed and I I'm grateful for them for giving me that opportunity. They were the second publisher. The third publisher was Helena Compel and Burnt Island Games specifically with the Into Deep campaign. I covered they they had a campaign. They canceled the campaign to relaunch it later. I covered the cancellation, talked about the campaign and they reached out to me and said, "Hey, do you want to cover it when we relaunch?" They had seen my channel started to grow. They appreciated the the coverage I was doing and I built a relationship with them that has lasted to this day. I know the people from Northguard and from Daily Magic Games. I don't have the same relationship with them versus with Helena and the team at Burn Highland Games. I do have an active relationship that I appreciate. But like back when I had four or 5,000 subscribers, I remember like she was like, I think you're going to continue to grow in the space. Like I think you're your channel's doing well. The things you do do well. Like I believe in what you're doing. And she was very supportive both emotionally and in

16:23 giving me games to cover uh at a time when I was a much much smaller channel. And so I'm grateful for that. Not just the game, but the the support, the I think you're doing well and I I think you're going to continue to do well in the space. That kind of support means a lot, especially when you are a pretty small channel with a relatively small reach. And so I appreciate Helena and that relationship over the years. Number six is Marson Swirlkott. I'm probably pronouncing his last name horribly. I don't say his last name a lot. effectively the CEO of Awaken Realms and of Gamefound. And I should note this at this point. First of all, I work for Gamefound. That's relevant to this conversation right now. Secondly is Awaken Realms and Gamefound are separate companies. The only point of contact effectively is Marson is co-owner in both. But don't get me wrong, I'm not saying they don't have a friendly relationship. They certainly do. But anyways, Marson, I don't remember exactly what the first time or thing was, but I want to say I want to say I was watching a live stream with Marson and someone in the live stream said, "You should send um ISS Vanguard to Board Gameco." And Marson's like, "Okay, let's let's do that." And so he sent me Isis Vanguard. And again, I was smaller then. I was a growing content creator, but at that point it was far from like, "Oh, just we're going to send you a game." It was like no you're there's a big risk being taken.

17:46 This is a huge massive campaign that people were like looking forward to for a long time. ISS had a lot of buildup. People were very excited for this campaign. And so when Marson sends it to me, it was a and again similar to with Helena, it's a it's a it's a degree of faith being placed into you. And that developed a relationship with Awakened Realms over the years. I appreciated Marson. I thought it was a very cool company. I thought he's he's a very ambitious person who has done so much. The amount of stuff he's done is insane. But that was the start of relationship. And then later, years later, when I decided to go full-time into board games, when I decided to leave my job from that first person who I mentioned in this video, I decided to leave that job, maybe four or five months into being full-time board games, full-time board game co's YouTube channel, Marson reached out because they were building gamefound or the game found was already existing at that point. I had covered game to an extent. I had talked to him.

18:35 I had an interview about gamefound when it first started. Uh but he reached out and said, "Hey, you've been covering crowdfunding for the past, you know, three years non-stop. Uh you were COO of your last company. We're looking for a CMO and you kind of have both the management experience and the crowdfunding experience. Are you interested in the job?" And I was I was very interested in the job and it it had some ups and downs, especially early years. It wasn't always the easiest, but it's a job that I I started off liking and I've come to appreciate so so much more. Uh, it's one of my favorite things that I do in the space because and the reason I took the job is this is because I am passionate about crowdfunding. I am passionate about board games and it's so cool to be a part of a growing a growing platform in the space to be a part of crowdfunding as it defines crowdfunding and back then it was definitely more of a gamble like is gamefound going to define crowdfunding but at this point I mean this past year gamefound probably has a majority of tabletop funding. It's a little hard to exactly count it depending because not all information is public but it seems that game found has a majority of tabletop funding uh this past year and that's like 3 years in which is insane. So it it is very cool to be a big part of the of how tabletop crowdfunding is being redefined. A space that I was passionate about for years.

19:48 And this all started because Marson took a chance on me just to cover a game at first. But then later to be CMO of a growing entity. It's a big leap of faith. It's a big degree of confidence being given. And I appreciate that vote of confidence that has been there for the past I don't know I guess been five years now. Five years of a vote of confidence in different capacities to be sure, but a vote of confidence nevertheless. Number seven, six. 7 8 9 10. Seven. Number seven. [snorts] And maybe should have been earlier in this story. I'm realizing the timeline. I don't know. I don't know the timeline of this one in terms of when I interacted first. But number seven is Austin from IV Studios. And again, I debated I debated who gets picked in different capacities. But when I was thinking of people who gave me a chance early on and are relationships that I still have, the three that most came to mind, Marson was like the most obvious and then it was it was Helena and Austin. Helena was earlier on, but Austin was pretty early, too. Austin is somebody that I did a video covering veiled fate and I talked about the campaign and Austin reached out and said, "Hey, do you want to do an interview?" And it was that same aspect.

21:00 He kind of appreciated the way I was covering crafting. Like IV Studios is very business-minded. A lot of my content has been very businessminded. It's not just do you like this game? Is it worth getting this game? Is that a good price for this game? All those kinds of things. I love covering the ins and outs of the space, not just whether I like a board game or not, although I do enjoy both. and Austin reached out and at first it was just an interview and it turned into further conversations and then games, you know, then I went on the reviewer list but then they brought me down to to to obviously this was some of their like for the mythic myth mythic mischief launched. Austin has been both a business relationship and a genuine friendship for a long time now. Again, I don't know whatever the first Veil of Fate campaign is. I do wonder if he is before Marson or not. I'd have to check that. Uh it's definitely Helena first and other who I don't remember. But he has been again a vote of confidence in the content I was doing that has turned into a friendship. He was just here yesterday, like literally yesterday for my yesterday, not your yesterday. Whenever I'm filming this video, he was here yesterday filming content for the newest uh Fractured Sky expansions.

22:01 I like him. I like Austin. I enjoy the relationship I have with him. I enjoy the way he views the space. He's a delightful person to play games with, a delightful person to work with. He's just an all-around tremendous human being that I'm grateful that I know. You know, a friendship is a friendship when you wonder if I lost all the things we have in common. If I stopped being in the board game industry, would I still maintain that friendship? And I think I would. That's how you know it moves from a friend that we're friendly within this industry versus am I actually friends. I would definitely like to think that I would stay friends with Austin regardless of I mean granted we'd have less touch points, but he's a delightful human being and I'm grateful for that relationship. Number eight is Professor Meg. Now, I did debate not including like more closer friendships to a degree, but like Meg is someone Oh, I have the cat playing with the toy in a box full of components, which is going to make noises. Anyways, I met Meg back when I was covering Tidal Blades. Title Blades 2: Rise of the Folders. I was covering the game and she came down and we played the game together and then I don't think I saw her again for like a month and a half. I didn't know who she was at the time. I didn't follow Instagram that heavily. She had a big Instagram following. I was not I I was not and never have been a huge Instagram person. But then like a month and a half later, I was at Gamma 2022. I think it's 2022 cuz that's when I left doing my other job. That's the timeline wise. Oh, technically does she predate

23:33 I don't know the timelines here. I don't know the timelines. No, no, I think I don't know. I don't know the exact timelines here. Whatever it is anyways. No, I think I think it's the right I think it's the right order. I think it is the right order. Just check up check up when the fractured sky cuz if I met her in 2022 and the and the veil fade expan uh Kickstarter was in earlier than that. I think the timeline's right. Then I met her at Gamma, you know, I don't know, 6 weeks, two months later, whatever it was at some point later. And then I was like, "Oh yeah, you know, we've done stuff together." And then from there, that's slowly turned into a conversation about live streaming. And then we did Gloom Haven for like two years, uh, just live streaming Gloom Haven on Twitch. Then she then moved over to YouTube. And then at one point in the process, I eventually hired her to join to join the channel. And then she's been doing content on the channel ever since. Like she eventually moved to Cleveland once the job got to a point where I was able to pay enough. But she is someone who I have I've she's someone who I've been friends with now for h three years three years at this point.

24:30 Three and a half years something like that of I guess 226. Three and a half to four years at this point. I think it was early. Yeah. A while for a while now. And she's been an important part of Board Gameco. Like it started as we stream together while I do board game co and moved to you do the preview like you kind of started doing like some things for the channel then doing the preview content and now like she's not in all the videos on the channel by any means but she does show up in a bunch of reviews. She shows up in the top 100. She is definitely a key person on this channel for a long time now. And so I'm grateful for like it I'm grateful for her part in all this. Number nine is Christopher Bedell. Christopher Bedell is well was he he was the owner of Greater Than Games then maybe the CEO I don't know the titles he he started Greater Than Games way back when he created Sentinels of the Multiverse which is one of the first games I ever played in the space and at PAX East I want to say PAX East PAX East 2023 maybe maybe 2022 it might have been 2022 I don't remember it's either 2022 or 2023 but at Paxis At least I saw someone demoing the newer greater than games content and I sat down to demo it cuz I wanted to new to find the new version. Sentence of the multiverse had gone through multiple I said greater games new sentinels of the multiverse content because I had played the original sense of the multiverse because I bought the flat pack way back when I it's one of the first games I bought when I got to the hobby and then later they had the enhanced edition and then

26:00 they had the definitive edition and I never played the definitive edition. I played the enhanced but never the definitive. And so when I saw someone demoing it at PAX East, I sat down because I wanted to see more about it. Halfway through the game, maybe not halfway the game, at some point through the teach, maybe a few minutes in, I realized the person who was demoing the game was Christopher Bedell, the designer of the game and the previous owner of Greater Than Games, which had then gone to Flat River Group. who is now again I don't know of a CEO but r he ran greater than games and it was a delightful conversation because he's someone who's passionate about the space he's a true geek in the space to a large extent and he's he made the cut because it was this weird circular moment for me one of the first games that I ever played one of the first games I ever bought in this hobby of space and I got to meet him interact with him and he became a friendship over the years he was someone who was always a delight to see at conventions, to talk to at conventions. When Greater Than Games shut down, it was heartbreaking. Not just because it was an important part of the hobby, but also because it was an important part of my own journey in the hobby and because I knew him and felt like that personal aspect of like it's terrible. It's terrible to like sell your company and have it shut down. It's not it's never fun to kind of go through that arc. And I felt he deserved better than that.

27:18 A big part of why he made the cut as well is because he was a delightful human being. Is a delightful human being. not just fun to talk to, but like a genuinely good person. If you are someone who knows Christopher Bedell, I have to imagine you have the same opinion. You always wonder sometimes. You always wonder like you're like, "I know I like that guy. Maybe you think he's terrible." Like you always wonder, but like I have to imagine that the people who know Christopher Adele think well of him. And again, that circular aspect of the first one of the first games I ever played to then becoming a relationship that I've come to appreciate and and enjoy. I think he I think he deserved the cut. deserve to make the cut. Number 10 is the person I've never spoken to. Number 10 is a more recent uptick, but I've benefited so much from number 10 that I felt he deserved a shout out. And this is Nekon Yanser from BGA. I don't know if I'm pronouncing that correctly. Nekon Yanser. Neo N Y.

28:13 If you play a lot of games on BGA, you know who Nekoner is. He's responsible for like 80% of the games taught on BGA. if you play the tutorials. I've always played BGA, Board Game Arena. I've always benefited from Board Game Arena, but definitely over the past year or two, I've play it more because they've been increasing the amount of games they put on it. They put more and more games onto Board Game Arena, and so I've been able to enjoy playing games I have in my collection, learning them on Board Game Arena that then play them at Game Night or just trying a variety of games to see if I even care about them. Board Game Arena has been a great tool for finding games I love, learning games I have, and just trying out a variety of games. And behind that tool, sure there's Asthma, but there's also Nekuner because he does the tutorials for so many of these games. If you are an active board game arena player, you know that you owe a lot of um a lot of benefit. I don't know. You you don't owe anything. You've you've benefited from Nekoner. And so he's the only person who made this list that I've never talked to, but he has done so much good for my board game hobby that I felt he deserved a shout out all the less. I feel a personal connection with this individual who I've never once had any personal connection actually with.

29:24 Those are 10 people who have been impactful to my board game hobby or my life to different degrees. Like I said at the beginning, this is not a comprehensive list. There are people who I may have forgotten. There are people who I just decided where they fit into the story and the journey they've had. There are people who have been absolutely more impactful on my life than neck on Yanser. There's no question about that. This is me trying to hit a divergent aspect of different types of influences and different people who have influenced my life at different points along the spectrum. In any case, until next time, I'm Alex Radco from Board Gameco. Hope you enjoyed this uh storytime video and as always, I hope you have a good one.