August Game Day and Positivity
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Transcript
Hey, Mitchell. Good to see you.
You, too.
Hello. At the beginning, I saw in the comments this week, someone said they like that we say our names at the beginning of the video. And so, I'm I'm glad you just said your name and my name is Jame or I guess we said the reverse. I'm Jamie. You're Mitchell.
Yeah. And together, we're Jamie and Mitchell.
And Positively Board Gaming, of course. That's that's, you know, that's the name of our show that we do every week.
Are you having a positive week so far? What what's been the highlight of your week or the coming weekend? Well, this is always one of the highlights of my week, of course, and I always tell you that because it's the truth. Um, you know what? We have uh Do you ever go shopping at outlets? Do you have any outlets near you?
We we do. I
An outlet mall.
I haven't been to one in a long time, but we do have a couple of them in St. Louis. Yeah.
So, we we have one near us in Camaro. Camaro, California, which is in Ventura County, north of where I am in uh LA County on the border of like Ventura and and LA County. And it's close enough where, you know, we can just go. The reasons we normally go are pretty, you know, they have a great chocolate shop there that has the best chocolatecovered gummy bears and chocolate caramel apples, dipped apples, which we usually go, which you can relate to. Um, as a matter of fact, have to see what Tracy brought back cuz I came home first so we could do this, but have to see what she brought back for us. So, we took a trip to the outlet this morning. my daughter and my wife Tracy Sam and I just went and we were shopping because we're getting ready for my brother Lee and his his fiance Nicole's wedding which is coming up in four weeks. So there were still a few things that we needed. We need to get some shoes for the trip and I think they're still looking for like a cocktail dress for the you know for the um rehearsal dinner. So we went together and we hadn't been the three of us alone hadn't been together in a really long time and it was really fun. sometimes just doing something that you've done but with a different group uh different dynamic. Uh especially when it's people you love, it just it makes it it makes something fun that much more fun. And that's what it's sort of like for me today. I was just smiling the whole time of my my two girls and I was just like, "Oh, this is the this is the best." So, and then of course we have uh you know Mexican boots. And by the way, Jamie, you'd be very proud of me. I don't know if you'd be proud or like worried. Last week when I said it was 105 and we're not going out, we did and we sat outside and I survived.
How it's so hot.
I I don't And especially for me being built for the cold cuz I love the cold. So, anything above 85, I'm like, it's too much. I'm going inside. But this is I I sat out there. I didn't even really sweat that much. I was like checking my pulse, making sure I I had to check that I was still alive. Even though by very definition, if I'm thinking and wondering and checking my pulse, I'm clearly alive. But yeah, it was very it was very interesting that Tracy's like, "Are you okay?" I was like, "Yeah." And it was weird that I was actually okay. So, it's much cooler. It's about 15 degrees cooler today. So, I watch. Now, I'll be hot and miserable. That would be like the weirdest thing ever. But, uh,
what about you? What what what joy has this week held for you?
Um, I've had a pretty pretty normal week, I would say, here at Stillmire Games. At least for on the Stommyer games side. Did some play tests. I had a play test today that that went really well.
What were you playing?
Um,
I can't I can't tell you.
It never worked. I tried every Listen, I'm I'm a man of the people. I'm here for you folks. I tried. He doesn't. He's too smart for me. All right. Go ahead.
Almost got me.
You're like,
"Yeah, and [snorts] I I I did want to ask you, we we've been watching some really good shows recently, and I realized that I hadn't asked I know you watched some of the same shows over and over again, but have you uh we're watching Ted Lasso and really enjoying it right now. And we're also actually I wrote down that we're watching the show STI, but there is no show the SEI." What did I mean by SETI when I wrote that down? We're watching Strange New Worlds for Star Trek. Oh, we're watching Silo, not
Silo. That's on That's Apple TV, correct? That's Apple TV.
It's supposed to be really good. Is it? I've heard it's great.
It's very good. Yeah. And Ted Lasso is also on Apple TV, so
just watched it last night. Caught up. Y
Okay. So So you're watching Ted Lasso, too. Okay.
Absolutely.
We're only two episodes in, so I'm not as as far as you are. But isn't it such a heartwarming show? It really is. It's so funny and entertaining and and meaningful. Yeah.
It Well, and I still get emotional watching it. That's one of those shows that I tell people it's sort of like shrinking where you'll be laughing one minute and then crying the next minute because there's such a depth of emotion to that show baked into the comedy. There's a lot of real moments. There are a lot of real moments. Um and you'll see more of that as as you get further along in the season. I just caught up last night. I was I only watched episode two and then last night I watched the rest of them. So I'm like all current now. Um yeah, that show that show gets me every time and I'm actually thanks to you I'm sort of broadening my horizons a little bit. watching four new shows simultaneously right now.
What are the other ones?
So, we have Ted Lasso. I'm watching the new season of Reacher. Are you watching Reacher also?
I need to get into Reacher. I've heard it's really, really good. You recommend it?
I I do recommend it. I like season 1 the best. And since season one, I think this is my second favorite. The other two the other season two and three are fine, but I'm really enjoying this season 4. And it's it's it's a really fun show. So, I've got Ted Lasso, Reacher. I've been watching Stuart Fails to Save the Universe, which is the spin-off of Big Bang Theory, which is one of my favorite sitcoms. Did you ever watch Big Bang Theory?
I watched a little bit of it.
I think you'd like it.
Oh. Oh, I stopped watching it because I couldn't keep watching it.
Oh, you couldn't keep watching it. Okay.
Yeah. I I was frustrated that one of the characters wasn't evolving at all and just continued to kind of be mean to the other people. It's the the one who's on the spectrum. No, the guy. Well, actually lot too. They made fun of a guy with a lisp for a long time and I was like that just isn't funny. Like so I I really struggled with some some of the humor. I did like a lot of parts of the show. Yeah.
But some parts I was like
Yeah.
Yeah. There there was there was a lot of shaming in that show. It was very There was some very clever references. There was a lot of clever humor in the show. They did a spin-off actually with Crippy, the character that does have a lisp. He's in the spin-off along with the comic shop owner and uh Bert from the geology department. So, it's like all the secondary characters are starring in this off in this offshoot and it's really funny. It's so well done. It's so well written and it's so good to see those characters that
you know were sort of in like just a secondary position to the main story usually be story lines
to be the main people in a show as an actor. I love that.
Uh so there's that. And the last one is and this one surprised me. I love it. Lanterns. Have you watched Lanterns at all?
That's on my list to start soon. I've heard it's a little dark, but it
Oh, it is dark, but not like
dark like uh it's not too violent cuz I know we talked about this before.
It's dark in theme, but not so dark that wow, I have a hard time watching this. You know what I mean? And I think they had to make it a little dark because I think the Green Lantern and that universe has sort of been teased a lot as you know for, you know, I know Ryan Reynolds, you know, roasts himself for doing the original movie even though I enjoyed it. So now I feel silly for enjoying it because he I don't think he even enjoys it and he starred in it. Uh, you shouldn't do that. Don't shame your product because I actually enjoyed it. Now I feel silly. Um, but this one is really and I think DC did a great job with this show. Great job. You will love the I promise you, you will love the show. They do such great storytelling and I think you appreciate good storytelling. It's smart and it's got great action and the the characters that you've never kind of seen before. A really dark it's I'm not going to say anymore. I'd like to hear you'll get it.
the first two episodes or episodes, you're going to get it and be like, "Okay, here we go. Let's go." And I think you're going to like it a lot. So, yeah, you've inspired me. See, you've inspired me to get away from my watching, you know, Fringe or Grim or Chuck or any of my other oneword shows uh on endless loops and broaden my horizons. And look at me. I'm like a big boy.
I'm a big boy.
That's great. A good good mix of shows there and a couple that I want to watch. Um, and I do want to clarify real quick because I realized I maybe said that I misspoke a little bit. What
I I really like that Sheldon is a character who is on the spectrum on a major TV show. I think that is great.
The problem I had with it and I so I got into the show and I watched a bunch of episodes back to back to back
which can sometimes is maybe sometimes not the right way to watch a show like this.
Oh, I I love doing that but yeah, go ahead. Yeah,
sometimes I do. in this show. While doing that, I realized that over multiple seasons, Sheldon Sheldon is essentially cruel to his friends. Yes. And they they work around his cruelty because I think he's on the spectrum and they know that and they're trying
they cater to him to an extent. Yes.
But because I watched like three or four seasons back to back, I realized, oh, this is not evolving at all. they they are just letting there be a cruel character and they're not they're not help they're not helping their friend evolve to be less cruel to his friends. And I really I got to the point where I was like I can't watch this person be mean to his friends anymore even though I like that they have a character on the spectrum of the show and maybe I didn't get far enough. I know the show went on for a long time. I didn't get into the, you know, the 12th season or whatever.
I just wanted to clarify that that
No, no, no, no. I get it. And I think this is I think you're right, Jamie. I think you're on to something here. I think this is where binge watching did not necessarily help
because when you're hammered with something over and over, it's like, "All right, enough with him being mean to them or having this don't sit in my seat. Don't sit in my spot and I where's your bathroom? You have to sign this agreement and here's another agreement and an agreement." I get that. I will tell you he does evolve.
He does. Okay. Okay.
It's subtle, but change does happen. And I'm not going to tell you why because I don't know where you ended off. He does evolve. And as the seasons go on, his friends give it right back to him because I think they realize that to an extent it could be perceived that regardless of his situation, being on the spectrum and dealing what he has to deal with as a human,
Yeah.
it was hard to watch him being cruel and intolerant of other people.
And I think by having the friends push back, that was a way of balancing the scales a little bit. And I don't know if you got far enough to watch the push back.
It sounds like I didn't, but I'm glad that is the case. Yeah,
absolutely is the case. and he does evolve because he has to and I'm not going to tell you why.
Well, that's great. Okay, maybe I will return to it someday. I didn't give it I thought I gave it enough time, but you know, may it's a it's a longunning TV show. So,
absolutely. And you don't have to. I mean, I'm just saying you don't you don't have to. I'll if you want I'll just fill you in on the on the you know, the eight or nine seasons you didn't watch and you'll be fine. But, uh yeah, but I will tell you this. You don't have to have watched Big Bang to watch Steuart Fails to Save the Universe.
Okay. They sort of basically they they they mention the other characters that were starring in the other show, but you don't necessarily need to. It's fun because there's a reference point when you see them like, "Oh, what's it? They're in the comic book store that they were always in when they when I was watching Big Bang. That's great." And no, there's Steuart from the comic book shop and his girlfriend. So, there's some familiarity to it having known seen the show, but I don't think it's necessary from a storyline perspective to have watched the show.
Okay.
How long has it been? We've been talking for how long and haven't mentioned a single board game, which is fine. I'm just saying what? Look at us go. Look at And look at how I like our shirts today, both of us.
Yeah. Yeah.
We're very sure today.
Well, should we talk about some games?
Let's talk some games. What What games you want to talk about? Or what gaming topic? Because here in Positively Board Game, it could be about a game, the people in gaming, or a favorite moment with Jamie Stegmire.
Mine's a little bit of the combination of the two. Thank you for that introduction and the
introduction. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I hosted a our our second game day at our our new house this past weekend. I not I hosted, we hosted it. Megan and I hosted it together. I coordinated, but Megan Megan was here, which was a great host.
Um, we had about 40 people here at the peak. I tried to take a photo for you, but I It's kind of our It's hard to capture like how many people are here because we have two levels rooms. Yeah, we're spread out. Um, but uh it was I I love being surrounded by people who I love taking care of people. So that was part of it of why I love hosting. And I love being surrounded by people who share excitement for something like gaming which I really really love.
Um and the day So there were a few games that I played that I had already played before that I already loved and they were fun to play again. I'll go through them real quick. I played the gang um which you and I we we played it with six players. Tough to win with that but we did win. We lost really badly then we won. All right.
Played no thanks with a variety of ages. We I invited people to bring their families and so there there were some kids here and there, you know, no thanks is just a numbers game and the no numbers 3 through 35. So you can play it as I think that the youngest there was around five or six years old and he he chose that game and he had a good time playing it.
Okay.
Um we played blob party. Always a good time. We're trying to cooperatively blob together and dice minor. Dice minor. Beautiful custom dice game. We had
I saw that in the picture. Yeah,
but I played two new games and I really enjoyed both. One or both of them might end up on my list of like favorite games of 2026.
Whoa.
In particular, this game Falling.
Um, Falling has a really cool theme. The theme of it is that uh there is maybe it's in the real world, but we'll just say it's in the real world. Out of nowhere, a giant spire of rock, like a massive sky spire of rock appears in the sky and starts falling towards the earth.
Okay.
And it's not damaging the earth. Or maybe it is, but that isn't a problem in the game. The cool thing about the spire is that it has a bunch of resources on it. It has stuff that people want. It's almost like the moon has is falling onto the earth and the moon has stuff that people are trying to harvest.
Okay. Um, and so the the theme of this game is that you are sending climbers and clim and climbing machines up to this up on the onto the spire as it's falling to try to gather these resources before it crashes into the earth and the resources are destroyed. And if you climb up high enough, you can install machines on the on the spire that like uh harvest the resources for multiple rounds.
Um, so there's a sense of engine building to it.
Is there a push your luck element to it? like at the higher you go kind of like the games where you're digging and the further you go you know you have but you risk not being able to bring everything back. Is there a similar mechanism in this?
There's well the game is very generous and so I I would say it isn't um pushing your luck in in the possibility of failing and doing that but there is an element of uh if you you you are sending you're either sending a climber up on your turn or you are building a machine on the level that your climber is on. And so the push slight push your luck element is that if I have my climber if I set my climber up a little bit higher than the other climbers. I'm doing that in the hopes that I get a few turns where I can just install machines and I'm not competing with any other player to do that. But there's a chance that you might say, you know, I'm going to climb up to that third level, too. And so back toback turns, I I'm installing a machine, you're installing a machine, and every time we're doing this, we're getting another cool bonus.
Oh, that sounds so much fun. It's a It's one of these games that is it's a lot of fun and it was it's very generous with the resources. It's constantly giving you stuff and then letting you use that stuff to do cool things.
I love that.
Um and the coolest thing the thing I wanted to mention to you
Oh yeah, there's a lot. I I spent like eight minutes talking about it on a video recently.
That's awesome.
My favorite mechanism. But the thing that I thought of you a little bit with is that it has um you end up getting like over 100 points in this game, but the victory point track is only 10 spaces long. And when you get to space number 10, you kind of track that you have 10 points by drawing a card that has all the cards have the number 10 on the back. So you're drawing this card and you're keeping it to keep track. Like at the end of the game, maybe you'll have 10 of those cards. That's 100 points.
Okay.
Um but on the other side of the card is a bonus resource and you don't know what you're going to get. So you're going to draw a random random card and get a random bonus which feels good. But 10 of those cards, it's a deck of a 100 cards. Okay. 10 of the cards are shiny cards and they give you an extra resource.
It's this little endorphin burst to like that makes you really want to gain these points early in the game and you should probably be engine building like I just want to get points cuz I might get the shiny card and everyone at the table did end up getting a shiny card and we were like we're all like cheering whenever anyone gets a shiny card.
That was so cool.
Yeah, it was really really neat.
Is this a new game? Did this just come out? Cuz I don't think I've heard of it before. I think it was a Kickstarter or crowdfunding project that maybe delivered a few months ago and I think it just hit retail and a friend had I think the Kickstarter version so he brought it. We played it at four players. I think it is available in retail right now.
Okay. Okay.
It's I I loved it. I It's one of those games where as I was playing it I was like I love this game. I'm loving that I'm getting to play this game right now with cool people and I look forward to playing it again.
Love that.
Now I do have one other game to mention. Sure. um that uh that I did love. You're not going to see me the same level enthusiasm, but I really did think this was a very clever concept and I look forward to playing it again. It's a little more abstract. It's a game called Even Glow. I don't know if you've seen there have been some photos, some other content creators talking about even Glow. It's an abstract game about planting flowers and you're trying to get specific flowers into groups of either exactly two for like the purple flowers, exactly three for the yellow flowers, exactly four. So, you're getting these hexshaped tiles that you're trying to get into into these precise groups. The hook of the game though is you your player Matt has two nearly identical uh grids like hex grids.
Okay.
And on your turn and on every turn because it's fully simultaneous on my turn I get two tiles two different colored tiles. And if I put wherever I put the tile on my leftmost grid I have to mirror that placement for the other tile that I place.
Oh.
And they're labeled with numbers. So it's exact mirror. So, like number 13 on the left side is also number 13 on the right side.
Okay.
If I have a really great space to put like a purple tile that I just gained on the left side, it means that I also must place the other tile, say a green tile on the other side.
And so, it's this dual puzzle. I don't think I've ever used my brain like this in a game before. It was pretty cool. Like a pretty cool concept.
You're so you're committing in advance to something and that you don't know how is going to turn out on the other side, but you're committing in advance to that number. Well, you're doing it simultaneously. So, you know where the tiles are going.
I got I got you.
It
like normally in a game like this, you're like, "Okay, I have this tile. I'm going to put it in the best possible place, right?"
And you can do that in this game, but then you also have to place this tile on the other side. And because this is a game about having exact groups.
Oh, wow.
You might already have two per two green tiles on this right side, and you don't want another green tile. That isn't a great example of this, but that's that's, you know,
what is this? This reminds me of something. I
Yeah. There's a familiarity to this. I could totally like this would be a game where you' be like, "Okay, I get this." Like some some I don't know if I've
It's interesting how the brain It's interesting how the brain works, Jamie. How mine used to work. Um where I don't know if it's a game that I've played or some mechanisms just
you get them, you know, and some of them, conversely, there have been games where I'm like, you know what, I'm having a hard time wrapping my head around this. the concept isn't difficult, but the way everyone's brain is wired just a little bit differently where there could be like a really abstract difficult concept like oh yeah I get that like really how did I get that why I shouldn't get that but you know it just depends on how how your brain works. So either I've played a game similar to this or I'm just like oh yeah that I can relate to that the symmetry of it. I like the symmetry because again some people love symmetry some people in in an abstract game which is funny but there is symmetry to it. So I I like that. I like that a lot. Okay, I've written everything down. I'm definitely going to check these out. Uh, have you heard about Yeah. Go. Sorry. Go ahead.
Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Yeah.
No, no, I was going to ask, have you heard about the new I think it's uh critical role code names. Have you heard of the
I've heard of it. Yeah. Yeah.
Okay. Because I was watching a video on that and I thought that was something you may like also because it has the critical role. It has sort of a a D and D feel to it
with with the code names as the engine for the game with code. It's really interesting how you're playing. You're basically going on an adventure using the using the single words as progression and growth. It's really interesting.
That's neat.
Yeah. I think Yeah. Check either check out a video because I was like, "Oh, I like that." And I think I think my friend will like this, too. So, yeah. And I love I love Thank you for sending me the pictures, by the way. And I understand it's hard to when when things are spread out like that and it's not people not realistic to think 40 people are going to be hovered around a table unless it's in Lucas Stadium on a very long table at Gen Con. But uh yeah, I just love getting the images and I was like, he's a good photographer. He always gets the right angle. You must take the pictures for all your for all your thumbnails and videos because they look they look great.
Oh yeah.
Yeah. I was like it has that Jamie dramatic angle. It's like those dice look so pretty. I knew exactly you know when you're talking about dice miners like a dice
I want to I want to play that right now. Pretty pretty dice. Just like holding them and oh speaking of pretty pretty here. I wanted to show you this completely off off topic. I ordered specific sleeves for my Captain America. I'm getting obsessed with Magic the Gathering now. Like American Commander deck.
Oh wow. Captain America sleeves. That's really cool.
Yeah. And so you Jamie knows that, you know, I like to accessorize and, you know, get all the little upgrades and stuff. So this is like my I'm I'm even finding way to do it in Magic. This pure card game. I'm finding a way like Oo, it's still pretty pretty Captain America shield. I'm such an idiot. But
have you gotten to play the Captain America deck yet?
No.
No, I haven't gotten to play yet. Uh, I'm Yeah, I have to sleeve it first. Jamie, please. You can't rush. It's a process, Jamie. You cannot rush me. It must be sleeved and then petted nicely and and fed treats and then I play.
I'm a sad little man. That's what I am.
Well, has this sad little man gotten to play any games recently? Or what?
I'll share with you now.
First, I drink. Mhm.
Oh, I did want to throw out the thing that I was going to say about even glow before we move on is that um I appreciate that
g given that you have this one restriction that if you place the tile on the 12, you have to place it on 12 on the other side, right? There are no other restrictions in the game at all. You may not score well like it just because I said like the purple tiles want to be in a group of two, it doesn't mean that you can't spoil that and and create a group of three, you won't score from it. But it I I like that there are no other restrictions in the game. Sometimes abstract games can kind of weigh you down with
right
said remember that you can't turn it this way. You have to you have to do it this way and escape doesn't do that. Just just has that one rule kept it simple and then from then on it was like
just do your best with this this one constraint.
Yeah.
But you know and I I do too. And what I think is cool about that is and I'm going to go back to when you talked about the shiny cards because I would I go crazy. That's from falling right. Um, you talked about the shiny cards and sometimes it's just about like, "Oh man, I hope I get a shiny card." And that's what you're and that's that brings the table joy. And in a game like this where there's only that one parameter, the one thing that you have to match, even if you add something that doesn't add to the engine in terms of points, it might it may add to your joy engine. Write that down.
Joy.
Joy engine. [clears throat]
It's a good name for a podcast right there.
I was I was going to say that that was my stage name years ago. Here he comes. Joy engine. Joy engine. ladies and gentlemen. Um, yes, it may add to your joy engine. So, even if you're not scoring points for it, some people love the visual, the aesthetic when they're playing getting a certain card, even if it won't benefit them because they like having that card in their deck or they like seeing it out in front of them, even if it doesn't play well with the others.
Um, so I I get that and I appreciate that. Even if it doesn't score, it's still it's still it still rewards you in another in another way, which I think is super cool.
Yeah. Yeah.
I like it.
So, sorry to jump in there, but yeah. about
I've been thinking about the title of our podcast, our videos. No, no, serious now.
Uh, positively board gaming.
And for those of you, this is I think this is 776 77. Yeah,
77. I don't keep track anymore. I try not to mention the names, like I said, in case we have to post it, you know, in a different order. I try not to mention numbers anymore so I don't mess mess it up for us. and ho how important the name is to me positively board gaming and what it means and why we do this and I still have these moments where again I'm watching and people I still get asked about this so I wanted to on a on a larger level talk about it again because we haven't addressed it in a while Jamie and I are far from perfect people. Jaime's a lot closer to being perfect than I am. I'll give him that right now. I I'm telling you. Um but we are not perfect people. We have our moments. we don't love, we don't respond to. Every game isn't for us. We don't go on or say like, "Oh my god, this game I really resonates to me." Not every game does that and that's okay.
But if we are going to sit together for between 30 and 40 minutes every week and talk about something, I'd rather share something that I loved that hopefully other people will love. If something gave me joy, I want to spread that joy. I want to share it. And this is not somebody I'm not I I don't want people to think, oh, I this seemed positive for me. I I understand that. But that's why I said at the beginning, it's like we're not perfect people. We don't love everything. That isn't the point. The point is if you're going to go out of your way to share something.
Mhm.
I would rather share something that I love, not something that, oh, I play I still I still see the names of these videos. I play five games I played so you don't have to or 10 games I played so you can thank me later. Whatever. I've seen these and the videos do very well and people love them. They're not for me because with the time that I have, I'd rather be getting something positive that maybe I might want to I want might want to try. I might want to share somebody's joy and say, "Okay, maybe that maybe that'll resonate with me, too." Plus, and I've mentioned this before, I didn't again, it's a little redundant. I think we talked about this maybe 50 or 60 episodes ago. Now that I have friends, including a very special good friend like Jamie, whose life revolves around creating these things that we play and make videos on and comment on, it puts things in a very different it it puts things in a different light. Not that I would have made a negative video anyway, but especially when you know someone whose life revolves around putting so much of their heart, their time, their energy, finances, everything into putting something out in the world to be appreciated and enjoyed. Yes. Making money, that's his business. But he wouldn't do this if there wasn't joy involved. I promise you that.
Yeah. knowing that I just because a game doesn't resonate with me, why would I want to kill that joy or kill that game for someone else that might like it when I especially know the effort that goes into it? And I think from my perspective, Jamie, in my in my world, in the entertainment world, having made movies and TV shows for the better part of most of my life, most of my life, I know what goes into making a TV show or movie. It's very analogous to what we talked about with you. I now I know through you what it's what goes into how much you pour into making a game. So when I see a movie I I feel bad like saying like oh that was a terrible movie because I know what went into it. I either have a friend in it or someone who worked on it. So it's like even though it may not be for me it's hard for me to justify putting a downer on it for somebody else. Number one because it's my taste and who am I to say what you may not like or like. And number two because I know what into what went into it. You know what I mean?
I I do. I do. And I I do um I like two things in particular about what you said. I like that we are choosing to spend this time with each other to speak about things that we love.
Yeah.
Um and I think critically we are not reviewers. We are not reviewing these games. It isn't our responsibil we're not we're not journalists who are trying to say the good things and the bad things. We're not we're not we don't have to balance that out because that isn't what we're doing here. We're not we're not reviewing games. But I also like that you said that your you your time is limited in terms of the content that you consume. And so um I think that is that that kind of makes a statement for you, but it also is just true to you that that you and I this resonates with me too. Like I'd rather watch a video about someone's possible favorite game of 2026 rather than watch the video about like you said that the the a game even the thumbnail just looks really really unhappy with it.
Right. I' I'd rather spend my time on on the joy.
There are times for me as a designer that I need to learn from
all types of games. I need to learn from the criticism, too.
Yeah,
that that is a that is a way that I choose to spend my time sometimes. But for the most part, when I'm just sitting back and enjoying a video or or written review or podcast,
I like to hear what people love about the game.
Me, too. And I and I think if I if if I was a professional, if I were to review games professionally,
there are two things I know I would do. One one thing I know I would do, one thing I know I wouldn't do. One thing I wouldn't do is I probably wouldn't give a number rating.
I probably wouldn't.
Interesting. Yeah.
Uh I think you could glean someone's, you know, I think it's easy to go to the end of a video and see a number and go, "Oh, okay. I learned everything I need to know from that number, which is not true."
Yeah.
Um you just see the number and you know, you assume you make the assumptions and fill in the blanks based on that number. Right.
Yeah.
And so that's one thing I wouldn't do. One thing I would do was I would say and we've talked about how important language is and how you know you can say there might be one concept you're trying to get across but there are a million ways that to say it and to put it that make it more consumable for for someone to hear or someone to to actually consume. I would say I wouldn't say things I liked and disliked probably. I'd say things probably that worked for me and didn't work for me personally. Mhm.
And again, I I've become much more sensitive to that language. Again, just knowing what goes into it. And I'm sure there are going to be people that are like, "Hey, you know, get get a tough skin. Come on, girl." It's like, "Hey, I'm from New York. Believe me, my skin my skin is so much thicker than you probably know. I played hockey. I've been in fights all my I mean, it's so it's not like I'm sitting there like this."
Yeah.
You know, so it is again, that's why I said the not a perfect person thing.
But when it comes to this stuff, I don't know. I think I'm very happy that we do things the way we do do them. I said do the way we do do them.
Uh that's not to say everyone has to follow our lead. That's what makes, you know, a selection of content. Some people might like watching a negative review because it gives them something that maybe they don't get here. And that's fine. I just always talk I just think about
it makes me happy the way that we approach this. And again, becoming friends with you and learning a little bit of your experience, what you go through and what you put into these games, it becomes it reinforces that I'm glad we approach things the way we do. And then the analogy of like my industry came through. I was like, "Oh, it's not that dissimilar from one because again, even if it's not a movie that I respond to or even I don't know anyone in the movie, I can almost guarantee you there was someone that at least one person, if not a dozen or a hundred, that put their heart and soul into it. And I I don't want to kill that buzz for somebody. So there you go. I'm such an
you. I think it's been around nine years since I started making videos about games. And I I figured this out pretty early on. But I because I knew I wanted to talk about games in some way, but I was already a publisher. I was already a designer. I already had a a lot of respect and appreciation for my peers because of what you said, the amount of work that they put into the game. Just because a game doesn't work for me doesn't mean that someone else didn't spend a lot of time and effort and resources and love into it. And so that's what I decided. I'm glad I did that. When I talk about games on my YouTube channel, I am talking about my favorite mechanism in the game context to talk about
to say something nice about any game. Again, I'm not a reviewer. I'm just sharing one at least one mechanism that I really love that maybe other designers or people who wa whatever they whyever they're watching it, they can learn from it. And it keeps me it it is a way for me to show my respect and appreciation to my peers rather than bashing their games. And I do there are other podcasts uh like the uh the guys at Garpill Games. They I think they do a great job of analyzing they're they're also designers and publishers. They do a great job analyzing games in a way that is like that. I think
um and they're much more eloquent than I am. So they they spend an hour talking about a game which I think is incredible. So yeah, I I appreciate um I appreciate my peers and I want to show that through through the the videos I make in the game.
That's so funny. You beat me to it, Jamie. I had it written down.
Favorite mechanism. No, because again, those aren't videos made to like say this is my favorite game. This is my favorite game because otherwise you'd have a thousand favorite games that you show that share the mechanisms for, right?
But what you're saying is you're finding something you love in all of these games. And I love that. And again, swinging it back to entertainment. Same thing with a movie that I may not think is the greatest movie for me, but there'll be a moment where I laugh my butt off or I was like that got that really got me. Oh, did you see that movie? You were like, "Oh, I didn't love that movie." I'm like, "You know what? You know, it didn't change life for me or isn't like one of my favorites of the year, but I had that one." And sometimes that's all it takes. Especially if I'm going with Tracy or my kids and we have a laugh together when we leave. We're like, you know what, it was just silly fun and it it didn't have to be life-changing, but we had that one moment together that I which is like my favorite mechanism. We had that one moment where I'm like, you know, regardless of the whole the thing as a whole, I really love that thing. That moment when he was in there and did that thing and we laughed. So, there is a lot of crossover. See, there's a lot of crossover between our worlds. Jamie,
there is. There is. There is.
What game were you playing earlier? Did you play testing? No. Don't tell me. It's fine. But when did I turn I was going to say, when did I become so less mature? Hello. Have you watched our podcast? I think I set the bar pretty low in terms of maturity. Like, I think maybe from episode one on.
I I wasn't stupid. I I didn't want to, you know, do something that I couldn't live up to every week.
So, you know,
you're consistent.
Yeah. I'm nothing I was going to say I'm nothing of not consistent.
Oh, this is great. This was great.
Well, it has been a joy talking to you as normal, Mitchell. Um,
you too.
I'd love to hear if there's a show that someone's watching right now that they're really enjoying or if they want to dive deep into The Big Bang Theory and tell me why I should continue to watch it. I'm open to that. or talk about a game that you uh that you really fell for recently or uh or your your topic if there's a how how you feel about um that that whatever you are creating u whether you're a content creator or not whatever you're creating and what you're consuming how how are you what what are you selective about in terms of how that stuff makes you feel and how you want to use your time.
Yeah. And and for some people having negative reviews it helps them too. for some people that's that's that's something that they So feel free again ju just to mention I love that and uh also if you've had a game night and found the new game that you love
through that game night even especially if it's pretty pretty tell us all about it.
Yeah, absolutely.
Pretty cars, foil cards. Love them.
All right, man. Thank you again and uh
I will see you next week. I'll come back.
Sounds good. Come back. Okay,
one more. One more time. I got one more. One more time. Okay. Yeah, I'm good for one more. Yeah.
Okay. I'll I'll see you next week, Mitchell.
Bye.
Bye.