Refinement, Super Bowl, and So Many Questions (February 11 2026 Livecast)

0:01 Hello and welcome to today's live cast. It's uh what February 11th, 2026. I'm Jamie from Stonemire Games and as usual, I'm here to spend the next hour with you to talk about a variety of topics including some Stonemire game stuff, some fun personal stuff, games, your uh hopefully some answers to your questions. Yeah, anything goes today. As we uh as we jump in here, I hope we're having a good day so far. We have a bright sunny day here in St. Louis. I think it's around 50 degrees, maybe maybe even in the 60s. And uh yeah. Yeah, it's uh it's a nice break from the snowy cold that we had for the last like three weeks almost. Um the Super Bowl was this past weekend and I hosted I I found that my preferred way I enjoy football. I actually do enjoy watching American football, but uh my preferred way to watch the Super Bowl rather than just sitting around staring at a TV for four hours is to play game to mute the TV. Have it on, mute the TV, have it on, and then play games around the area. And so we put up a few tables around our condo and invited people over. We had around 15 people over and had a grand old time. We had a lot of a lot of good food. We played Dragon Farle, The Gang, Just One, and Caution Signs. And I had a lot of fun with all of them. Um, yeah, all of them were good like games that you can you you know, play for 20 minutes or so. They don't they don't outstay their welcome, but they're still a lot of fun while they're on the table.

1:31 So, I'm curious what you all did. Did you watch the Super Bowl? And what was your environment while you were watching? Were you just focused on the TV, focused on the game, or were you uh doing some other things while you're while you were halfway paying attention? Wade says, "Will you be attending Protospe STL?" Uh, I'm not entirely sure, Wade, but uh I'm hoping to drop by if it if it works uh if it works out. Um, are you going or are you going to play games to uh to play test or to to play a prototype that you're bringing? What are you looking forward to at Protospe STL? Tim mentions uh the Tapstry digital preview. He says, "I can relate to the way that they need to understand all the rules interactions up front. Both the product and the process look interesting." So yeah, last week around this time last week, I joined the Tapestry Digital team at MindGate Studios for a 30 minute demo of Tapestry Digital, which still has many months in development. They're ending they're aiming for sometime in 2026 to release Tapestry Digital, but the game looked great from what I from what I saw. I hung out and talked to them and asked them questions for around 30 minutes that it took one of them to play the game. And uh yeah, I was just I was really impressed. And I recorded this I asked them for permission to record it and to post it on their YouTube channel.

2:50 So if you're curious to see what it looks like, it is on the YouTube channel on the Stomar Games YouTube channel from Saturday. I posted on Saturday. It's about 30 minutes. You could probably watch little parts of it. You don't have to watch the whole thing, but I thought it was a great conversation and a great preview at what they are working on and how good the game will look in the end. Garrett says, "I'm sure Mitchell will be excited to hear that you played Dragon Farle. You might be even more excited to hear, and I posted this on on Instagram, Garrett, that uh my co-orker Susanna, she had the perfect roll, like literally the best roll in the game where uh she rolled six dice, rolled a straight with those dice, 1, two, three, four, five, six, and rolled the face on the dragon die. That doubles your benefit for uh for getting that straight. So Susanna, that was Susanna's second turn of the game. So on Susanna's third turn of the game, she won the game. She took all in dragon farle you get all these points that that are represented by soldiers in the game and then to win the game you have to take all those soldiers and go fight the dragon um to win the game and Susanna pulled it off in three turns which is remarkable for this game. I ended the game with zero soldiers.

3:58 Susanna ended the game with an ample amount of soldiers and a dragon defeat. It was it was pretty cool to watch. Nazer says, "Can we get an updated stamp for the wingspan disc golf disc?" uh an updated stamp. Uh we don't plan to change the stamp on that disc, but we do plan to reprint it. We're working through a reprint right now, in fact. Um yeah. Can you explain why you want a a different stamp for it? I like the stamp on the Wingspan disc.

4:30 Jeff says, "Happy Wednesday to all and happy birthday to my favorite Worm and Finsspan opponent as they turn 20." Happy birthday to your your child, Jeff. Um, I hope you're doing something special for their birthday today or that or that they are doing something special for their birthday. Um, I use the word refinement in the title for today's video. And I I mentioned that because a lot of what I've been doing over the last week at Stommyer is taking the feedback that I gained from our work retreat in Phoenix a couple weeks ago and applying it to pre-production copies, games that are in design and development and um and a few other and well mostly those are the two. I was looking for a list of three, but it's really just those two things. but across a number of games, across four or five games. And so I've been working on the refinement process for these games, which is fun. Like it's it's very detail- oriented trying to get it right.

5:26 And detail I'm I'm not a super detailed oriented person, but I surround myself with people who are uh to help help with that process. And so it's been really neat to take games that I considered really really good and to make them better products and also better designs depending on if I'm talking about a game that's in um in development versus in the pre-production stage. We also play tested one of these. There was one pre-production copy that didn't arrive in time for our work retreat and so a few of my co-workers got together on Wednesday this past week and played it and talked about it for a long time. Megan also joined us and gave some great feedback. And so we learned a lot from doing that um from playing this kind of a rough pre-production copy, which is when we ask our manufacturer to make a copy of the game that looks really similar to a real game. Like they use real game components to print it, but it isn't actually the real game. And so we walked away with a lot of feedback about how to make what was what is a great game. like we really enjoyed the gameplay to make it more intuitive and clearer and more accessible, all that stuff that we look for in product design. So, that was a that was a fun process to go through.

6:39 Uh, what else? I played yesterday, had a little bit of time in the afternoon, just like a 30-minute break to play Cats Versus Cucumbers, a new Kickstarter delivery with Megan. a little push your luck game kind of along the lines of Dragon Farle but with a little bit more set collection. We had a good time with it. We had some We had to uh figure out some rules that that we couldn't exactly figure out, but the the cuteness of the idea of Cats versus Cucumbers. I I like cat the game cat themed games. So, this was a really cute one. I also have some recent crowdfunding games received that I haven't played yet. Off with our Heads. Let's see what this one is. This is how do we describe this game? Um, says simultaneous reveal cards from your hand. Rank the revealed cards in the order of the queen's whimsy. So, a little bit like a trick taking game.

7:28 Mark the zone on your player sheet depending on your card's ranking and place your marks to unlock scoring bonuses and avoid the queen's axe. I remember being intrigued by this when it was on Kickstarter. I like Druid City games, so I'm excited to play that one. And then we have X Seekers of Fortune. Uh, this one is a dueling style game that gave me kind of the vibes of Indiana Jones a little bit. And so I was curious to play a dueling style game. Says, "Manage your hand to collect collect sets of leads to solve adventures. Be the first to complete five adventures to win along the journey. Unleash powerful actions. Look at sights, powerful relics, daring feats." Yeah, I don't know. I'm I'm I'm curious to see how this game plays. I'm surprised it came in such a big box. So, I haven't opened the box yet. Curious to see what's in there. So, what's on your table of opport or your shelf of opportunity right now that you're hoping to get to the table soon?

8:25 Anthony says, "Any thoughts on Rody's latest news on the fraud?" And just to clarify, be very clear about this for those who are reading this comment. Um I'll take it off the screen so it isn't misleading. Rod was not uh involved in any fraud at all. However, he had a a channel linked to his channel where he found out that the person running this channel was um engaging in some very misleading business practices involving pay-per-view uh advertising essentially pay-per-view sponsorships where people publishers we never worked with this guy, but uh uh publishers would go to this person and say, "Okay, if you want I I want to advertise on your channel." um you're getting a lot of views on your channel and he would charge per view. But as it turned out, the views were um they were obtained through something called YouTube advertising and the views were dropping off. So these weren't they they weren't I don't know if they were like they might have been real people or they might have been bots. We don't really know. Um, but they they appear to be they appear to make videos look like a lot more people are actually watching the videos than than really are past the first minute and the advertising didn't happen in the first minute. So, uh, I think Rodney was I think Rodney did everything that he possibly could to talk to this person about it to see if they could if they would own up to it publicly without him

9:56 having to say anything. Um, uh, it's it's tough to call someone out like what Rodney did. It took a lot of bravery and courage to do this, but uh I think it was the right thing to do. When you when you talk to someone and they say uh I'm going to keep doing this. Um and and and doing so was going to hurt other people. I think that is an important time to speak up. And I applaud Rodney for doing that. Um yeah. Yeah. Susu says, "Any revisions or thoughts for Expeditions 4 plus players slowing the game down and taking a long time?" Well, a lot of uh I I agree that the core game of Expeditions um the original game uh can go a little bit longer at higher player counts. It scales maybe a little awkwardly at higher player counts, but I address that in the Gears of Corruption expansion. So, uh I recommend trying the Gears of Corruption expansion. It addresses a number of things, including scaling. It addresses the length of the game um because it gives players a much faster start. Give that a try and let me know what you think.

11:00 I see a few people saying they're playing Cozy Stickerville as the next game on their shelf of opportunity. That's exciting. I'm curious to see what you think about that. Terrammystica here from Aaron. I love Terrammystica. Myth win from Morgan. And looks like there's a Oh, for the Super Bowl, um, Cud Cuda SNX played uh during the Super Bowl played Vidiculture Tuskany and won while uh sharing it with her dad. That's awesome. I'm curious if you get to play Bordeaux as well sometime soon to see what you think about that one. Oh, good. A board gamer girl says that she really liked Off with Their Heads.

11:46 Had that on the table as attempting a solo method of playing a game to share with folks. Really like the game and the theme. That's great. Yeah, I'm excited. Was it an easy one to learn? Is this one that I could learn pretty easily before game night tonight? Let me know what you think about that, Natalie. I see a lot of answers about shelf opportunity. That wasn't even my question of the day today, but I love hearing what you all are excited about playing. Um, Mudsong says, "I just wanted to give you another thumbs up for your January 29th post about Minneapolis and ICE and uh and looking out for your neighbor and caring for the people around you, being kind to each other." That was the kind of the thesis of that post. Um, thank you. Um, I appreciate you saying that and uh I still I continue to applaud the people in Minneapolis who are standing up for their neighbor and looking out for their neighbor and standing up for kindness and compassion.

12:37 Um, so I do have some other some bigger questions today. So I have a lot of questions for you today. Uh, one is one is a topic that I want to revisit on the YouTube channel. It's a there's a video I filmed a long time ago about games that ask you to use your eyes when looking at the game where there there are or the art of the game is isn't just for the theme or or the the the the setting. It is because the game wants you to use your eyes to look at the art to learn important information, to find hidden clues, things like that. So, I'm curious what uh some any games that come to mind that you really enjoy that ask you to do this. Obviously, there's Vantage from Stommyer Games that does this. Um, but there are some other games that I mentioned in that original video, but I didn't realize how old that video was. It was around 5 years old, and I really like games that do this. I don't necessarily need to be like looking at a microscope through art to find hidden hidden clues, but I like when the art is meaningful. And a recent example of this is uh is Deep Regrets. Deep Regrets is a fishing game with a speculative element to it where when you choose the card that you want to uh fish on, on the back of the card is a shadow uh kind of like a shadow like underneath the surface of the water that depicts the size of the fish. So, it isn't like an icon that says this will be a large fish. It is a shadow depicting a large fish. So, if you look at those shadows, um, the art

14:08 kind of replaces the need for an icon and asks you to use your eyes in a way that is very intuitive and, in my opinion, very, very clever. So, I really like that. I'm curious about any other games, maybe some games that I've missed that ask you to use your eyes to look at the art and gain important information from looking at the art. Let me know if you have any examples of that. See, Steve played Wingspan Americas recently with the fan art cards. That's fun, Steve. I like that. Oh, Carol's also Oh, Carol's also hoping to play Off with Their Heads. And Santael actually I it's not my copy, but Susanna brought over her copy of of Santael that we might play that soon, too. More gamer girl says about Off with Their Heads. Pretty quick learn. Co has a quick how to play video that is sufficient enough to bypass the rule book and get to playing. Well, I do love videos from CO. So, I will pull that up as a reminder while we're talking here.

15:01 Stuart says, "I'm going to need some more info about the Andrew Bosley airship game. When can we expect more details? I'm so intrigued." Well, that is our Q4 release, Stuart. So, it's going to be a little while, but I do really I am very excited to talk about it when we get closer to the uh the launch for that game. Okay, I need to put this in so I don't forget Cove off with their heads. Awesome. Uh, Stone Saga, mention of Stone Saga for Ias has Stone Saga been released, Jonas, or is that um, is that coming? Is that incoming? Aaron mentions Metal Gear Solid, the board game. You mentioned that one a few times. Aaron's one of our panelists on our channel. Metal Gear Solid Hidden Clues.

15:57 I should probably, you know, digital games do this a lot, too. It isn't going to be the focus of the video, but I'm going to mention blueprints in there because I think blueprints does this really well. Chad mentions Tang Garden. Has you use your eyes to line up panoramas and garden features for victory points. This is a good uh take on this, Chad, where it isn't necessarily a matter of like hidden information in the clues, but using your eyes uh is is a core part of Tang Garden. I like that. That might have gotten a mention in the original video, but I can't remember. Merlin's manor also says that off of their heads is very fun and easy to learn. All right. Well, I'll learn that for good night tonight then. Yeah. Hilda says, "Five minute mystery. You'll search for symbols to enter them in a physical codeex." Five minute mystery.

16:44 Awesome. Thanks, Hilda. Garrett says, "Do did you ever give more consideration to doing some form of a board game jam?" It's kind of on the back of my head, Garrett. Um, uh, but no, I haven't I haven't pursued it yet. I And and sometime sometimes I I hear ideas like that and I I see if I kind of sit on it for a little bit to see if it's something that I'm excited about trying or if it's something that kind of fades away a little bit. I must admit this one has faded away a little bit, but I appreciate the reminder. I mean, sometimes um sometimes I need a reminder to to revisit it to see if it's something that that I could that that there is a format that I would be excited about.

17:30 Master Louise says, "Tried the new wingspan expansion. I love the hummingbird mechanism from your play testing. Did you find that the mechanism reduces the frequency of the endgame of people just spamming eggs?" Um I I'm that strategy I would say is most prevalent in just the core wingspan game. I think it's a lot less relevant when uh when you add any expansion to the game in America's it does encourage you to run your engine like it's encouraging you to activate the rose a little bit more than putting the emphasis on playing bird cards. They're still playing bird guards, of course, to make that engine better, but um so in our play testing, I I think the main thing that we found is that it encouraged players to to activate rows, not any one specific row over another, but just to to have fun using the engine that they built because they get that extra little benefit at the end with the either attracting or returning a hummingbird. But we didn't see it have an impact specifically on the uh the egg laying row, the grasslands.

18:35 Okay, Jonas, thank you for clarifying that Stone Saga Stone Saga is actively shipping now. That's good to know. Julie mentions Micro Macro Crime City. Yes, that's a great inclusion for a list of games where you are um encouraged to use your eyes. Yeah, I wish I could I bet there's a way I can do this in StreamYard that I haven't figured out yet, but a way for me to put the current question on the screen that I've asked so that uh you all can see it. Tan Graham City requires you to visualize the time shapes when placing and choosing which side of the tile based on balance. I can see what that say what you're saying with that, Eric, that that you you do need to visualize those shapes really really well. I would maybe say that applies to most Polyomino games, so I don't know if I'll bring in an entire category game into it.

19:29 Kore has a playthrough of the new edition of Sigraata. Have you seen the new edition? I have seen the art for the box of the new edition, but I don't think I've seen the components within so far. Oh, Aaron mentions code name pictures. That's true. I I could see code name pictures applying. You do need to look at those pictures quite closely throughout the game. Chronicles of Crime. Yeah, that's a great one where you get to look around a room. In fact, uh, Time Stories also encourages you to use your eyes while you look at the new locations that you've walked into. Canvas, does canvas count? I would say canvas counts. Yeah. Um, because canvas, a big part of canvas is creating art where that art matters. Um, for endgame scoring. Yeah, I would say that. Dixit, too. Yeah, Dixit and Mysterium Park. Yeah, I would say those fall into kind of the canvas category.

20:24 Um, Dixit. Yeah, some great selections here. Search for Planet X. That's a game with visual cues. That's true, Peter. Yeah, that's an interesting one. That might fit. It's also It's really focused on the deduction, like what is or isn't in a certain place. It might fit. Yeah, I'll have to think about that one. Morgan, were you saying saying that mind management is one for this one as well? Looks like part of your comment may have been cut off. Decorum. Yeah, decorum. I could see that fitting into the canvas category. I haven't played that one, but I've heard that was a lot of fun. Mysterium. Uh, Seatsu. Yeah, Seatsu has that that beautiful That's a great three-player game. I've really enjoyed that one.

21:13 Some great answers here. I will uh I I'll pause looking at these answers to the question about visual cues. I'll come back and look at it later. But thank you for your answers about that. Um some content that I posted recently, some videos that are already out there is I had a dual video or not a dueling video, but a a shared video with Molly from the mill. Carol from the mill is in the comments here right now. And uh Molly and I each picked games that we can't stop thinking about. And not just in this moment, but games that kind of encourage you to through their design or throughever what they are to keep thinking about the game after you played to maybe even talk about to want to talk about the game after you played. I think that's a neat subset of games, games that extend beyond the table to a certain extent. So I had a great time talking with Molly about that. also had some blog post about uh the launch data from the recent Wingspan Americas and Viticulture Bordeaux launch talking about how nearly 50% of our revenue from the [clears throat] launch period came from other products that didn't actually come from those core products emphasizing the importance for us to have at least all related products in stock when we do a launch for a product like all wingspan products or all viticulture products in stock. Um, but kind of keeping that in mind also from a marketing perspective.

22:30 I also talked about the other day uh what you do when you feel completely caught up on work and even maybe ahead of schedule. There's those there's rare moments where you're like, "Oh, wow. I could I can do whatever I want for the next hour or the next day because I've caught up on everything else." Um, what do you do during those times? And I listed 10 different categories of things to think about that uh that I might do during those times. and um beyond just like making more stuff. And it was interesting to think about from that perspective. I know it's a rare luxury when that happens, but it does happen at times. I'm I'm glad I have that list prepared for when it does happen the next time. I have a few other questions here. Let me scroll down to see if any of you have any questions. Rob says, "We were playing with everything. We wanted to keep going. We added a board to the right. This is wingspan. Playing birds requires three plus eggs. Benefits plus four rounds for 12 turns. thoughts on how we adjust anything else? Rob, I I don't play Wingspan that way, so it's really hard to comment on it, but maybe someone in the comments who's played Mayor Man could comment on that.

23:33 Aaron says, "Backstories. The Emerald Wedding anniversary also requires you to use your ID your your eyes. It's like a point-and-click adventure in card form." Backstories. Interesting. Yeah, I haven't heard of that one. Thank you, Erin. Aaron says, "Am I aware of the Tony's 2 box? It takes the original toy and turns it into an engaging game system for kids rather than just music and story. It does it with a dial and tapping features." I I can't say I'm familiar with either the original or this this new game, but um sounds like maybe you're enjoying it with your family. Oh, Aaron does point out that wingspan with the beak direction does ask you to look at the art. That's true. Wingspan beaks.

24:22 Yeah, that's a good point. Champion faction says, "When I get an expansion for a span game, I like to play with only the new birds, dragons, or fish. Create some weird card draws depending on the expansion focus." And that is I wonder what one of my thoughts on that. I uh so I often do that too. Well, what I actually what I technically do when I do that is I often have a deck of expansion cards and then a deck of cards from the game or other expansions shuffled in and I let players choose from drawing from those two decks for the first two plays typically. And I think that's I like playing that way because in games like uh Worms, Dragon Academy doesn't play all that well using all only just the Dragon Academy cards. Um we tried it like it functions. it's fine, but it's nice to have a mix of the other cards in there or the option to have the other cards in there. So, I that is my preferred way to play. Um, but I could definitely relate to wanting to see more of the new cards than the original cards. You can also do it by like taking the whole deck of new cards and shuffling them into a much smaller deck of existing cards, so you get a little bit more of that balance between the two.

25:29 Jeff says, "Have you received your copy of Moon Colony Blood Bath yet?" No. And Jeeoff, it's looking like it might be a while. I actually did drop I thought the game was going to be at my local game shop um because I I ordered it about a month ago from them and so I dropped by on Saturday and they clarified once I got there that it's now on back order. So it sounds like it's out of stock right now everywhere everywhere. So I'm going to need to wait a while unfortunately. Um I'm a little torn between finding some other way to get it like maybe it's on uh actually it isn't at miniature market. It isn't uh on Amazon that I could find. But I think I'm fine waiting. Like I'm try I I'm trying to um when I don't have an urgent need to play a game, I really want to play. I really really do want to play it and share it with friends. But when I when that when real urgency isn't there, trying to order from my local store and being patient about it. So that's what I'm trying right now. I I'm not a particularly patient person. So this is a true test for me. But for now, I am waiting. Yeah.

26:30 Oh, Tony mentions uh picture perfect. Yeah, that's a great example. I'm sorry. I said I wasn't going to keep going with these, but I don't want to miss them either. And that is a great example. All right, Carol. Enjoy the rest of your day. When you're designing or developing a game, when in the process do you show the game to AutoFactory to begin thinking about the solo mode? How complete is the design and balance when they're included? So, I typically wait. So, to clarify this a little bit, I work on whether it's design or development, I work on the multiplayer versions of our games. And at a certain point in the process, and I'll mention in a second, I hand the game off to Automafactory so they can make the solo mode. Typically, when I feel like the game is about 95% finished, that's when I send them the files and I say, "Hey, start thinking about it." And then it isn't until the game I consider 99% finished. When all the when all of my play testing and development are done that I send them the full files and say, "Hey, go for it.

27:26 You can work on it full force now." So they have like a nearly complete version of the prototype at that point. However, Alama does come back to me sometimes and say they say, "Hey, this thing is unclear or this is unbalanced." They do a lot of um they do a lot of really good balance play testing because Alama players are playing the game over and over again back to back and they're trying to find loopholes as they play. We do that in play testing, too, but they do a really good job of it. And so they often come back to me and point out some things that are imbalanced that I that I didn't fix on the back end. Yeah. Spottit. Yeah, Spottit is a good one, too. I'll mention Spottit here. Susanna, my co-orker, says, "Keepers from Van Rider is a photographic take on Dixit, and I like that as a player, you're choosing which image best fits the given clue, or which image is the opposite of the given clue." Oh, that's really interesting, Susanna. Keepers. Yeah, I haven't heard of that one.

28:21 I think Van Ryder has a a Final Girl uh on on Kickstarter right now. I never played that one, but that did show up on a lot of ambassador top list of all times games recently. Um, which I actually want to share that topic in a moment. Let me catch up on questions and I'll share that topic. Beta Wise says, "Do you put on thematic background music for the games you play? If you don't, which games do you have a playlist for?" You know, just recently, actually, just today there someone posted a music that they compiled in the Vantage Facebook group if you want to check out that music for Vantage. It's very rare. Like I work in silence. I play in silence. I rarely think to put on music, but if I am playing a game, oftentimes with an IP, I might think to put on Star Wars music or Lord of the Rings music, things like that. Um, sometimes if I remember. Yeah.

29:08 Oh, Aaron relates to this. Aaron's been having trouble getting Moon Colony Blood Bath for their store as well. Yeah, I guess I I mean, I'm glad the game has sold well. Um, but it does mean that it'll probably be between three and six months before we're able to get it, unfortunately, Aaron. Um, but I'd love to I'd love to buy it. Erin, Erino says, "Do you think there could be a simple set of rules for vitulture that would make it a make a family version similar to how I love cats as a family version? I was thinking about how to try it out with a family." Um, I'm sure it it might be possible, but it is really tough for me as someone who knows viticulture so well to find a way to distill it, to find what to cut because I consider viticulture, the core game, to be fairly easy to teach because you can teach it season by season. Like I really enjoy teaching viticulture for that reason. Um, so distilling it down even further, like I don't know exactly what I would cut from it to make it work because everything is there for a reason. The game gets all a lot more complex when you add other expansions, but it's fairly distilled in the core game itself. But feel free to post on the f the uh the uh Facebook group or on board game if you figure out an interesting way to do that without sacrificing anything really important.

30:24 Chad says, "Was there a Super Bowl commercial that made you chuckle?" You know, I didn't watch any Super Bowl commercials live, but I did really enjoy the halftime show. That was that was the one time that we turned on the volume and uh I was I I loved it. I thought it was brilliantly shot and choreographed. Um that the camera angle in the in halftime show remained really low. So at any given time you could only see oftentimes like between one and five people. The the kind of the fields in the middle of the of the stadium were amazing. Um the the dancing on the uh the electric lines. I thought that was brilliant. just how focused it was on it was very it was almost intimate which I think is very unusual for Super Bowl halftime show where it's often like hundreds of people on a giant stage and there were some moments like that but for the most part it felt very intimate and focused on Bad Bunny and maybe a few other people that he like briefly engaged with a lot of cameos I thought it was I don't know if I can say it was the best halftime show ever but I thought it was one of the most memorable maybe the most memorable like it'll stick in my mind whereas most other halftime shows for Super Bowl are just kind of a a a mesh of hundreds of different people dancing in unison, which is an incredible feat, but because so many so many of them do that that element of spectacle, they're less memorable to me than than this one. I think we'll see if it withstands the test of time. Wendy says, "Did your components arrive in time for your play test last week?" Wendy, so last Wednesday is when we did the pre-production copy play test or the

31:56 rough PPC play test. And when we started, the components hadn't arrived. when we ended the components still hadn't arrived. It was one specific component we were waiting to test. We had most other components five minutes before everyone was wrapping up to leave. Got a notification from DHL. It had arrived at that exact moment. So it was just in time for me to hand off to a co-orker who needed to ship some of these games to other people. Um so they did arrive technically, but we didn't get to actually play with them. We just had a few minutes to look at them and then ship them off. Board Game Eric says, "Since the America's expansion has come out, a few of my fellow board gamer friends were curious about the estimation for the nesting box restock. Let's see what it is right now." I'll look at the Google doc. I I'm I was I have mid-Marchch in my head, but we might have some Yeah, we're still looking at probably mid-March, maybe early March at best if it goes well. For anyone curious about it, this is maybe the one product on our website that ships by itself. So, it isn't something that you can consolidate uh with anyway. So, if you're wait if you're like waiting to order some other stuff from our web store until the nesting box arrives, it does not apply to free shipping thresholds. It doesn't apply to consolidated shipping. It is its own thing that ships by itself. So, you might as well get that other stuff now if you want. [clears throat] Speaking of shipping updates, um I think we're pretty much through on shipping.

33:18 Sorry. [clears throat and cough] I think Canada is still going. Canada still has a little bit more. They're aiming to finish up by the end of this week. The US is also aiming to finish up non-chipping orders by the end of this week as well. Europe is going strong. Europe just got their their freight shipping delivery last week and but they've been going very very strong. I don't think I have an update today. No, it doesn't look like I have an update today saying anything in particular about Europe. But as far as I know, they had shipped like 900 game 900 orders last week, which was even more than we expected. That was a lot for Europe. Wait says, "What is your friendly local store?" Um, I it is Fortuna Games near Tower Grove Park is the the local store that I' I've been trying to support over the last few years. I like what they're doing and they have an entrance that feels a little bit like a Hobbit hole that's a Fortuna Games. But I also love I love other game stores in St. Louis.

34:11 There's uh a miniature market actually has a great uh even though they are an online store, they have a great local store. Favorite game cafe way that that you know here in St. Louis is uh is Pieces Borging Barn restaurant. They're fantastic. There's Wizards Wagon. There's game night. There's uh the fantasy shop. A lot of good game stores here in St. Louis. Jeff says, "Are you filming a playthrough of the February Vantage Challenge? I played this past weekend and did have it did have my flirting reciprocated by a sentention." Uh and a Blood Bath is currently on the play and win list and give it a Geekway Geekway Pride. I'll gladly play it again. Like I want to play it again, but I'd love to play my copy at some point. And that's great, Jeff. I I don't know if I'll film it because I' i'd like to do it with Megan. I'd like to play it with Megan. And what Jeff is referring to is that you can now create a custom together character for Vantage um using a card template that I shared in the most recent Vantage update which is on our website if you go there. It's also in the Facebook group. And you can so it's it's a character that you can create that combines you and a loved one into one card and you can play a game of Vantage essentially a solo game with someone else to go on an adventure with someone else. And so I'm hoping to do with that with Megan sometime over the next few days for Valentine's Day. And in addition to that, um what Jeffoff is mentioning is that an alternative version to that if you don't want to make a custom card is that you can focus on trying to have some sort of a relationship with a sentient in the world of Vantage, which is something that you can do in this world. Um so congratulations to Jeff for doing that.

35:44 Avocador says, "Now that I own almost every game created by Stomar Games, thank you for for supporting our games, and I hope you find joy in them in that way. Uh, have you considered a special expansion bookshelf to hold them all?" I like that idea. I think the bookshelf business is something probably that I that I think other companies do really well that I don't want to get into. I have a Call shelf just off camera here near the litter boxes for many of my games, but I have a kind of a built-in shelf into our wall that I use for our Stonemire games. Um, but yeah, I think Calls is a good good type of shelf to use for for games. Wendy says, "For Valentine's Day for her husband, I'm working on a pet companioning card for Vantage, the other type of custom card that you can make using our cat, Alen. He lived to be 17 and a half years old, and he and my and he and Wendy's husband were best buddies. Thanks for that option." That's a lovely gift, especially if you maybe you're going to play that u play game of Vantage with that pet companion. It is one of my favorite things to do in Vantage. When I play a solo game, I include uh sometimes I include Walter, but more often I include my late cat, Biddy. Here's Biddy right here. I keep him on my desk. I keep him on my desk in a number of ways. Here's a special card of Biddy that someone made. A lot of artists have made renditions of Biddy.

36:56 Here's Biddy in a box. Um and here's Biddy. If any any of you have thought that you've maybe seen Biddy in one of our games, you probably have. Biddy shows up on this card in Expeditions. He shows up on this card in Tapestry. He's in a bunch of our games. Not always on cards, but in a variety of ways. Here's one other illustration. You can see him on the wall behind me, too. Here. Here's Biddy right there. Yeah, Tony Megan mentioned this. I didn't realize that those bushes, those fields were actually people whole attached to the uh the greenery, which I thought was incredible. Anyway, um let me u ask you another question and then I'll take a break and answer more questions. One of the questions I wanted to ask you, one thing I wanted to point out to you and ask you about is that I asked ambassadors recently what their favorite game of all time, favorite non Stommyer game of all time was. And there were around 10 games that three or more people picked. And I want to read them out loud to you and let me know if you identify any trends in these picks that I that you think I should look out for in creating a future Stommyer game.

38:07 If you're seeing something here, we're saying, "Okay, Jamie, you're Stonemier's biggest fans are saying they love these games. You should make a game that uses this element." So those games are Aon's End, Arc Nova, Castles of Burgundy, Dune Imperium, Final Girl, Galactic Cruise, Heat, Lords of Water Deep, Lost Ruins of Arnack, and Terraforming Mars. I definitely see some patterns here, but I'm curious what you see in those games as well. I'll repeat them really quick here. Um, Anzend, Arc Nova, Castles of Burgundy, June Imperium, Final Girl, Galactic Cruise, Heat or Water Deep, Lost Runes of Arnack, and Terraforming Mars. I'll post that maybe on the screen. See if I can do this real quick.

38:54 I'll post the comment in a moment. Yeah, it's down at the bottom. Here is the list for a second while I look at the next question. There's Robert has a question about Namiji. Uh Namiji is coming later in the year, Robert. Um but yeah, we are working on our version of Nami. Jackie says um why the why doesn't the new scoring pad in uh Wingspan Americas include um uh nectar on it? Yeah, Jackie, we've mentioned answer this in a few places, but I'm happy happy to answer it here. So, we could certainly did consider it, but we realized that it would be really confusing for people because when you're playing with Americas and just Americas and nothing else, and we don't assume that anyone has the other expansions for Wingspan, it'll be really confusing to see on the score pad a category for something that isn't explained in the rules at all.

39:40 Because when you just play with Americas, you don't do nectar scoring. You only do nectar scoring if you're playing with Oceanania. So, to avoid that confusion, we didn't put it, it was very much not an oversight. It was very intentional not to put that on the score pad. However, if you are someone who plays with all Wingspan stuff, and there are a lot of people who do that, um we've included on our website, on the America's page of our website, um a downloadable uh uh sheet that includes all the scoring categories that you can print out at home. I think there's like four different score sheets on a single page, so you don't have to print out that many of it. And uh yeah. Yeah, it's all there. I believe it's mentioned in the FAQ on the Wingspan America's page as well, but [clears throat] um I don't know if I've actually linked the uh the printable version of the score sheet there, so I'll make sure I do that.

40:28 Viper 22 Husky says, "Do you know why there are a bunch of games out of stock it seems compared to normal? Is it an industrywide thing right now or is it just the games I'm looking for?" I don't there. Yeah, there's there's no connection between any publishers. like each publisher has their own reprint schedule that they that they pursue that they go for. Um I know the tariffs in the US at least have made it have made companies less profitable because we're paying higher taxes than normal and so we have less funds to invest in reprint. So that might be the only pattern globally or or at least in the US or anyone who sells in the US. But um but yeah, every every publisher has their own reprint schedule. Games go out of stock and they reprint them. um entirely independent of other companies.

41:20 Natalie says, "Do you have any resources on how to repack our wingspan nesting boxes for the new expansion? Is there a way to purchase the original paper containers? A friend made me 3D inserts that worked well until last week." Um there are lots of different ways to do it. It's it's a flexible modular box. But the recommendation I I have that maybe I've heard that some people have missed. So I'll just mention just in case is that the base layer is meant to hold I mean it can hold different things but I I think the ideal way to use that base layer at the bottom now is to put three um three uh card trays because three card trays can hold a lot of cards and there is a card tray included in Wingspan America. So that can be one of the three. You might already have some other ones. You can also buy the tray variety pack on our web store. Um that does that we don't make the the paper the sugarce pulp containers anymore. We only make the plastic versions because people seem to like those better. Um but those are available on the web store in the tray variety pack. Uh but yeah, Wingspan America's comes with them. But use that base layer um for for to hold a lot of those card trays and which can hold a lot of cards is my recommendation.

42:26 Very creative. Thomas says, "What do you think board games do that video games can't do?" and vice versa. That's an interesting question. I mean, the, you know, the overarching answer is that it lets you play without having a screen on, which is really nice in a world where we're constantly on our screens. But what can they do that video games can't do? Video games, I think, can do a great job of on they can onboard players in a way that tabletop games are much worse equipped at doing. Um, many tabletop games do different things to help onboard players, but you can kind of learn as you play in video games, much better than you can do in most tabletop games. Also, video games are really good at um kind of tool tips. Like if you don't know, even if you're playing on a board game on board game arena and you don't know what a card does or what it means, you can also hover over it and it can explain it just in text. And so that's really nice to have in video games. Now, what tabletop games can do um that video games I I think can't do as well is they can give you a lot of information on the table all at once. That on a on a screen, especially a tiny screen, it's really hard to see all that information all at once. You have to zoom in, zoom out. You have to toggle over to different tabs.

43:37 You can even see this on Tapster Digital if you look at Saturday's video where they kind of had to break the game up into multiple tabs where in one tab you're looking at the map, the other you're looking at the tracks, the other you're looking at your player map. But in tabletop games, you can have a lot of information on the table, all all right there for you to look at. Um, which I think is pretty pretty cool. That's a great question. I'm curious if anyone else has any answers to that question as well. Oh, sorry. I see my comment repeated multiple times here. I will delete this comment a few times.

44:14 Yan Williams says he received a package with Stomar releases just in time for Borggan Group and he played Wingspan with the Americas and had a great time. I'm so happy to hear that. Um I I am excited whenever we have a launch that people are, you know, get excited about playing the new thing whether it's Wingspan Americas or Viticulture Bordeaux. So um thanks for sharing that Obsession has taken all their instruction manuals and combined them into one big polished book. Do you think this would be possible for Wingspan one day? Well, you know, I heard this question earlier today, Eric. We actually have done it. We did it in Wingspan Asia. Wingspan Asia has a consolidated rule book that includes all rules for Wingspan Asia, Oceanania, Europe, and the core game. And so, I hope that's a demonstration that this is something that we actively do and will continue to do in the future. Uh we'll probably wait until the final expansion to do another consolidated rulebook because it does take a lot of work to put all that stuff into one cohesive rule book. It isn't a matter of just, you know, copying and pasting. Um we have done it in the past as well. We did it in Tapestry's third expansion. We did it in uh we've done it for Scythe as a as a separate standalone product. So it is something that we um have done and will continue to do. Yeah.

45:23 Jackie noticed there there's map building as a common theme in those those top picks from ambassadors. That's a good observation. What else? Someone else mentioned something here earlier. Um simple actions, good deal of depth. I like that. Aaron Orchard tile placement with an action card river. I don't know if we need to take everything from all these, but I like I like these commonalities. Polyomino tile lane. Um, let's see. Terraforming Mars and Arnova have huge decks and making use of tags. Yeah, we don't really we don't use tags as much as as other games. I'd like to I like the way that Arc Nova uses them in particular.

46:07 Roma points out that Wingspan Asia doesn't mention the nectar rules. You might be right about that. Um, nectar rules are pretty detailed. I can't remember if they how how much they're mentioned in the Wingspan Asia rule book. Um, I know that I think the key thing that that rulebook doesn't have is the appendix. Uh, the append appendices remain separate. possible thread between those games that they all have player interactions weaved in what would otherwise be quite solo experiences. Um, that's true. Yeah. Uh, they do have player interaction built in there. Um, yeah. I also I don't see especially in Tableau building games, I I I want it to be a little bit more heads down. I I want to focus on my tableau. I don't want to mess with other people's tableau. Um, so I I think sometimes it's used as like a bad thing, but uh but I actually think it's an asset in in many tableauing games.

47:08 Jonas points out that video games are a way that you can connect with friends from far away, whereas board games don't often do that. Uh, you know, they make it a lot more a lot more difficult to do that. Garrett points out that Red Rising kind of uses tags in a little bit of a way. I like using tags like in Arc Nova. They they are often either thresholds and or requirement or thresholds and or discounts. If you have a certain tag getting more cards that with that tag are discounted. Red Stash games says what do you mean by tag? So a tag would be Arc Nova is a good example here where Arcnova might have a tag that says this card is a European card and there might be other cards that say uh whenever you play a card with a European tag get the special benefit. Also, by default, if you have a European tag, then a special uh token, if you have that European token, then every card you play with a European tag, you can get it, you can pay for it at a three coin discount. Um, and also there are some there's a use of tags where they say like you can only play this card if you already have two cards with European cards, European tags in play. So, a couple different ways that you can use tags. Beta Wise says, "I like your games have achievement sheets." Yeah, we do have a few, not all of our games, but we do have some games that have achievement sheets. It works for me because if I lose a lot, I'm motivated to get my name on the sheet.

48:30 I've played Expeditions 12 times, but haven't written my name yet. You'll get there. Um, but I'm glad you're enjoying those. We don't do those for every game because I don't know how much people actually use them, but it is that's kind of a tieover between tabletop games and video games, having this this achievement system. Other motivations beyond win the game or score the most points. I had a few other questions for you today. Okay, here's a very random question to kind of end on today, but we can also keep talking about the commonalities between those games that I mentioned a few minutes ago. Splender is a good example of tags. Clank Marvel Legendary. So, my just for fun question is that somewhat just for fun, we have been looking at uh at maybe moving to somewhere maybe maybe uh buying a home.

49:17 We have we have a small condo that we live in and we thought um maybe we could buy a home someday. Um but I've noticed in a lot of homes that we look at almost I would say every single home a huge amount of the bathroom the the primary bathroom is dominated this is very off topic. This is not about games at all is dominated by a bathtub. A very big bathtub or a bathtub which is interesting to me because in our current condo we don't have a bathtub. We have we have two showers. Um, so we're we're not really bath people, but I'm I'm fascinated by this. Are do are most people taking baths on such a regular basis that they want to have a bath in their house? Um, because this is what we're seeing in like nearly every house that we're looking at that this space that could be a giant shower or could be, I don't know, an extra sink or something is taken up by this giant bathtub that I have a feeling that we would never really use or very very rarely use. So, are a lot of people what what's your take on this? Uh, you don't have to get too personal if you don't want to, but are people taking baths on a regular basis? Are And if you are, I love it. I, in fact, I I I have a a good friend who I know does enjoy a good bath, a good relaxing bath. Um, so I'm just curious about it. I just didn't realize it was that common and that prevalent that houses just often have bathtubs in addition to a shower. A lot of these are bathtub and a separate shower. They have both. I just want the shower.

50:45 Austin says, "If there's ever a leaderboard for origin story, I'll happily submit my 88 point victory from a couple months back." That is an impressive victory, Austin. Most games of origin story. In fact, I'm curious which uh which cards you had to get such a a big victory. That's huge. Wow. Chad says, "Bathtubs are great for kids or pets." I can see that. And a lot of these houses I can see are geared more towards families. Um, I know Walter would not be happy if we put him in this bathtub. Children and older people. Okay. LB Jeeper says that uh their wife absolutely does. She loves to soak in the bathtub. There there was a time when I was much younger that I did enjoy a good bath. It's just been uh a long long time. I think that the only time now that I think to use the bathtub is after playing sports. Oftent times like um on a really hot day I want to cool down quickly but I don't want a cold shower.

51:38 And so putting my feet in cold water feels really good and we don't have a good way to do that in our current house. So for that purpose I I wouldn't mind the bathtub. Um but they're so big. I in in Japan actually in Japan I did use bathtubs. Uh I I use the the U of which is a much smaller bathtub. Like it's deep but it's small. And these bathtubs in these houses we're looking at are just so big. They're so big. Tim mentions it using for washing his dive gear. Uh, Red Stash says it's a must if you have little kids. I I could certainly see that. Austin says that his wife exclusively baths. Austin exclusively showers. Good. Good. You two have a good balance there. More comments about using kids.

52:23 Um, Jonah says, "I love a bath with salts and a bath bub at least two two to three times a week. A big bather here. Are we looking at newer or older homes?" A mix of the two. More older than newer, I would say. find that older houses have bathtubs more than newer homes. We are seeing them in these newer houses, too, though. We're seeing them in both. I don't know if I I actually can't think of a single house that we've looked at, New World, that hasn't had a big bathtub. And that's true. Bathtubs can be a personal hot tub. That's true. That is another thing that I like when we did our our Phoenix retreat, some of my co-workers were really excited about getting in the hot tub there. Um, like the only time that I really want to get in a hot tub is if it's really cold outside and particularly if I've been doing something active in like the snow where like I am just really really cold. That's the time that I want to get in a hot tub for a few minutes.

53:15 I see a lot of a lot of Okay, I love this. A lot of variety. So, there are a lot of people using bathtubs, especially people with kids. Jeff says, "Got to remember the words of Kramer Scrap. And Kate says, "I'm only a shower person, but my husband uses the bath quite often. As he's aging, his muscles are hurting really badly, and he finds a soak very rejuvenating." You know, that is a good point. I'm aging as well, as we all are. And a good soak can do can feel a little different than a shower. Can actually feel a lot different than a shower. I do see some people saying that only only showers here as well. Dogs. Yeah, you can put some dogs in there. Epsom salts for aches and pains. This is a this is a fun way to end today. Seeing everyone's perspective on baths. Uh headaches. I do get Jackie. I do get migraines from time to time. Um and uh that's interesting. Yeah, I don't think I've ever used a bath to get rid of a headache. Although there was one.

54:15 So, this last summer we were in London right before the Norwegian gaming cruise and we uh it was a very it was a very hot day in London and we came back from the hotel. I we were I don't know like sun drained is the best way I can say it. I kind of felt the headache coming on and I was like I don't want to ruin an evening in in London. You know how I'm hardly ever in London, right? I I don't want to ruin an evening by getting this migraine. And so I filled there was a tub in our hotel. I filled it up, you know, maybe this high with cold water and I just put my feet in it and I I don't know why I thought that would work, but it worked brilliantly. Within about 10 minutes, I just sat there for 10 minutes, just relaxed. I didn't go all the way in. I just put my feet in it and soaked up this cold water and it uh after walking around this hot London the day and it made a huge difference. And that is maybe the one thing like I still don't need a giant bathtub for that. But uh that was a revelation to me that maybe sometimes having something to soak part of my body in can make a big positive difference in my life.

55:26 After sports, it's better to take a shower and I shower. Yeah, I can see that. I I mean that's what I do after I play sports. Um Mike says, "I've never had used a bathtub taken taken out and put in a large shower." Okay, so yeah, Mike, this is what I'm wondering for these houses. Should we should we keep the bathtub in there or um or just make the shower bigger? Although I Susanna says our our suite bathroom on suite bathroom has a huge shower which I love. I like a big shower. I don't want to like be bumping my elbows all over the place if I can. And my her kids bathroom has a bath shower which I will use if I want to soak. Okay. So, you get you get a little bit of both. A little bit of both in in your house which is nice. I guess it is nice to have that option. Um,

56:09 I often forget that that an option is to have a bath even when standing in it to have a shower. That's true. Yeah, even when it's a dual option. Erin says, "I feel like having a bath implies that you have time, which is kind of a luxury these days." It does feel like that. Yeah, shower is efficient, right? You're in and out. Uh, and people do take different lengths of showers. Mine is around, you know, eight minutes, I think, at most. Um, but a bath does feel like uh something to luxuriate in. Although I will say with my London story, I was in it for my feet were in it for like 5 to 10 minutes at most. It wasn't that long and it did make a big difference. Kate mentions, "Yeah, good for resale value, too, to maybe keep the tub in there." Is that why you're saying to keep the bathtub in there and instead of replacing it? Julie says, "Our house is a 1970s house, a little older, and the primary bath off our bedroom only has a shower. It's not a huge bathroom, but it also fits two sinks, which is really nice. Um, tubs are good for resale, and our son uses his. Okay. Well, I should consider the resale aspect of it. Chad says, "How big of a yard are you looking for? Yard work takes up much more of your time than you initially think."

57:14 Yeah, I am not looking to maintain a yard. One of the reasons I really love living in a condo, I don't have to maintain a yard. Um, so I am looking for a as small a yard as possible really. Good bath can be good for mental health. I can see that. Yeah, definitely. And Tony does point out that removing a bathtub negatively impacts the future sale of the home. It actually devalues it. Better to have and not need than to need and not have. That's that's fair. Tony, have you ever been to a bean different topic here? Um been to a bean to bar chocolate shop? The chocolate bars of small batch places have such unique flavors even without adding anything to them. There is a local chocolate shop that I've been meaning to go to. I don't know if it's bean to bar, but it is uh well actually I do love going to cacao.

58:03 I in fact I haven't done chocolate of the day today. I have cacao chocolates over here and I have two chocolates from Trader Joe's. I have their dark chocolate peanut butter cups and I have their butterscotch um balls. I actually mentioned these on uh oh no a video you all haven't seen yet. Tomorrow my podcast tomorrow I'll talk about those chocolates. Um, but yes, there's a local shop called Chocolate Chocolate Chocolate that I've been meaning to go to. It's been a while that I think has some some really interesting flavors like that. Jordan says, "Whatever you do, get a filter for your shower or bath." Uh, yeah. What do you mean by a filter, Jordan? I might have one in my shower and just not not realize it. Never put a board game in a bath.

58:48 Um, all right. Yeah, lots of good thoughts today about board games and and uh houses and bathtubs. I really appreciate it. Um, and actually this is a good point, too. I like this. Monkey Butler says, "Don't fall into the resale trap. You need to live in this house for years, decades. Make it what you need while you live there and what you enjoy while you live there. That'll pay for itself more than the resale difference." I actually really like the sentiment. I I appreciate others looking out for resale. Um, and maybe others who have been in a home for a while uh have to have to think about that. Um, but I don't like to move. I like to go to I like to move to a place that I really want to be in for a long time. I've been in this condo for over six years at this point, six and a half years. I'd prefer to make it 10, but you know, if we if we if we need to move, if it's the right thing, I'm I'm open to it. But, uh, yeah, I want to be in a place for a long long time. And uh yeah, I yeah, I would I would say that's something that that I want to keep in mind. I appreciate you saying that.

59:48 Um Oh, I see what you're saying about Jordan saying about uh well, Jordan saying a water filter to filter the water coming out of the faucet, I think. And Champion Faction is talking about a filter to catch the hair that leaves the shower. Uh both of those, I think, or for the bathtub as well. Jeff is going to leave today on a great fiveword plan from Weird Al. Be kind, bring joy, repeat. I love that sentiment, Jeff. I love that you shared it with me. And let's end on that note. Be kind, bring joy, and repeat. I hope you all have a great week that's filled with kindness, that's filled with joy, and I will see you next Wednesday. Take care. Bye.