Episode 250 - Q&A Celebration

Intro: 0:00

Q&A: 0:35

Outro: 41:21

Bloopers: 42:25

Games mentioned this episode:

7 Wonders: 12:13

7 Wonders Dice: 13:07

Rosetta: The Lost Language: 26:10

Tragedy Looper: 26:26

Queenz: To Bee or Not To Bee: 26:47

Date Everything!: 27:53

Box Two: 28:32

The Mind: 34:11

Bomb Busters: 34:33

My First Adventure: Finding the Dragon: 34:45

Just One: 35:17

Strike: 35:27

Support us directly on Ko-Fi or shop on our merch store or our Amazon Storefront!

Listen to us: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and/or YouTube.

Follow us: BlueSky, X, Instagram, and Facebook

Chat with us: BGG Guild and Discord

This episode was sponsored by Grey Fox Games. Use the code "BLITZ10" to get 10% off your entire cart.

[00:00:06:17 - 00:00:35:21]

Crystal: Hello and welcome to episode 250 of Board Game Blitz, a podcast about all things board games that you can listen to in less time than it takes to put all the ornaments up on your Christmas tree. Board Game Blitz is sponsored by Grey Fox Games. This week, we’re celebrating a big podcasting milestone… we’ll be answering questions from our fans in honor of our 250th episode!. And now, here are your hosts…

Ambie: Ambie

Crystal: and Crystal.

[00:00:35:21 - 00:01:16:25]

Crystal: As I mentioned in the intro, this is our 250th episode of Board Game Blitz.

Ambie: Woohoo! Such a big number.

Crystal: It is. I'm still very happy about the fact that when we started the show we did, we started doing it biweekly, not weekly. Because I honestly don't know if we would still be doing the show if we had tried to do it weekly because there have been periods of our lives, which we'll get to later, that I think maintaining a weekly schedule would have been impossible through. But the biweekly is just slow enough that even when stuff hits the fan, we can still podcast usually.

[00:01:16:25 - 00:01:31:23]

Ambie: Yeah, I remember we started it biweekly and we were like, "Oh, if we're able to have more time, it gets easier, then we can move to weekly." Because we were thinking we were going to be moving to weekly maybe, and then things got more busy.

[00:01:34:05 - 00:02:04:05]

Crystal: Life always seems to get in the way. For podcasters who do put out content on a weekly basis who aren't doing it for their job, I honestly don't understand how. And I'm also glad that we didn't end up going with monthly, especially because of the short format. I don't think monthly would have been enough for us to really find our voices as quickly as we did and to grow our audience in the ways that we have. So basically what I'm saying is I think we did everything perfectly.

[00:02:05:08 - 00:02:08:05]

Ambie: We're perfect, yeah.

Crystal: We're perfect, we're awesome.

[00:02:09:05 - 00:03:13:20]

Ambie: And that's it.

Crystal: It's so funny. We've talked over the years about random encounters with fans of our podcast, but most of the time, we are obviously not celebrities. In the real world, nobody knows who we are. But I will say that just yesterday on Facebook, I commented on a post in a Facebook group that is not at all related to board games. It's a Star Trek-related Facebook group. I can't say the name because it's a curse word, but it's Star Trek poop posting, if that makes sense, but not the word poop. So it's a funny Star Trek post group. And I commented on something that was not related to board games, and somebody replied to my comment and was like, "Are you Crystal Dax from Board Game Blitz? I love your guys' stuff!" And I was like, "OMG Yeah!" Just like in a giant Facebook group of Star Trek people, somebody recognized my name, which still honestly blows me away at this point. It's weird to get recognized. I mean, it's fun, but I still don't expect it ever.

[00:03:15:01 - 00:03:49:28]

Crystal: So for this episode, instead of doing a normal topic, we solicited questions from you, our audience, in a bunch of different places. And we're going to be answering those questions. We like to do a Q&A episode, I'd say once, whatever, like maybe two to three years, probably, something like that. And we're due, basically. So we are going to be answering your all's questions throughout this episode. And if there's anything else that you all want to know, you're always welcome to message us or post something on our social media or Discord channels. We're obviously happy to answer questions anytime, but we're going to answer a whole bunch of them right now.

[00:03:49:28 - 00:03:56:27]

Ambie: All right, first question is from Heather, who asks, "What three to five episodes from the first 250 are the most memorable to you?"

[00:03:56:27 - 00:04:48:01]

Crystal: That's a really good question. There are some things that immediately come to mind. For me, at least, I would say our first episode is memorable just because we were all scared and terrified and didn't know each other. But that seems kind of like a gimme answer. I love the two episodes that my mom was on. And in one of those, your mom was also on the show with us. The Mother's Day episode with both of our moms is truly one of my favorites. Yeah, it was like it was so warm and cozy and just like, I don't know, I really loved it. And a lot of our episodes where we've had guests or other people join us for the podcast have been a lot of fun. And almost like basically anytime your boys have joined us, those are very memorable for me. I love your boys and I love hanging out with them. So those are always a blast.

[00:04:48:01 - 00:05:01:02]

Ambie: I think like one memorable one for me was was it like episode five or something? I don't know. It was the first. Our first guest was Suz Sheldon. We talked about GenCant. So that was like memorable as our first guest. First like interview thing pretty early on.

[00:05:01:02 - 00:05:29:07]

Crystal: We were scared because, if it was just the three of us-

Ambie: She was a celebrity.

Crystal: Yeah, no, Suz. I think at that point I was definitely a friendly acquaintance with Suz. But I don't think like I would say I'm pretty good friends with Suz at this point, like many, many years later. But at that point, I don't know how close she and I were. And while we knew of each other and we had maybe like seen each other at some events, like we really hadn't hung out a ton at that point.

[00:05:30:08 - 00:05:41:24]

Crystal: And so, yeah, she felt like a real celebrity to us. I mean, she is. She's amazing. So we were really, really happy that she was willing to be on the show, especially episode five when we were still getting our feet underneath.

[00:05:41:24 - 00:05:50:08]

Ambie: I think it was episode five, right?

Crystal: Yeah, I think it's around there for sure.

Ambie: Oh, episode six. Sorry. Episode six. OK. That's a big difference.

[00:05:51:08 - 00:06:59:13]

Crystal: I've also really loved the times where you and I have gotten to record in person, where you and I have been in the same room. I do think that. Yeah, I think that you and I recording in different places and having different game groups and different gaming experiences on a regular basis has made the podcast more rich and given it more depth than like we've discussed in the past. If everybody in the podcast is in the same game group playing the same games, I think there's a little bit of a loss of like diversity of thought potentially because everybody's doing the same thing all the time. And I think we have that benefit of not doing that. But when we do get to record in the same space, we get to interact with each other in a little bit more of a dynamic way. And we always have so much fun, especially when we're like at a convention sitting at a random table and there's people walking around and I don't know, it just feels fun to do it in a different place.

Ambie: Yeah.

Crystal: All right. Robert asks, what is the coolest thing that you've gotten to do as a result of doing the podcast? I have an answer for this, although I'm weirdly kind of ashamed of it.

[00:06:59:13 - 00:07:02:02]

Ambie: I don't have an answer yet, so you can go first.

[00:07:02:02 - 00:08:23:28]

Crystal: Okay, so I've never spoken at length about why I ended up leaving the Dice Tower. And I'm not going to now. I'm not spilling tea on this podcast, but I am still grateful for the opportunities that being part of the Dice Tower network afforded us at one point. And the year that I worked with the Dice Tower at Gen Con, I got to go out to a group dinner with some members of the Dice Tower and Trey Parker, who is famous for having created South Park. Like, he's legit famous like an actual celebrity. And he's also a very, very enthusiastic hobby board gamer. And if anybody ever has watched South Park, they've noticed there are real board games in the background a lot of the time. And that's because of Trey. It was a really, really interesting and fascinating dinner. Trey was a very exuberant and interesting person to talk to and get to know a little bit. South Park and Trey's content are also a little problematic in a number of ways and has been over the years. So like, there's a whole bunch of nuance and layers to how I feel about this, but I still think getting to have dinner with a real celebrity is probably one of the coolest things that has come from doing this podcast.

[00:08:25:15 - 00:08:26:20]

Ambie: I don't think I can beat that.

[00:08:29:08 - 00:08:41:21]

Crystal: I mean, it was luck, right? Like, it's not like I was selected for this whatever. Like, they were like, oh, hey, we're going to dinner. Do you want to join us? Oh, by the way, Trey Parker is going to be there. And I was just like, uh, okay.

[00:08:41:21 - 00:08:44:21]

Ambie: Yeah, I can't think of anything now.

[00:08:46:11 - 00:08:51:22]

Ambie: I mean, I've met a lot of board game celebrities, I guess.

Crystal: Oh, yeah.

Ambie: So that's that's cool.

[00:08:51:22 - 00:08:57:19]

Crystal: Have there been any games that you like got to see or try before they came out that like kind of felt special?

[00:08:57:19 - 00:09:34:00]

Ambie: So the thing is, like, I do the podcast and also videos. So I think a lot of the stuff that was special was more because of the videos I do than the podcast. Like, I did a lot of videos on 18xx games. And so I was like the 18xx person for a while. So I got to like people in the 18xx community knew me more. And I got to see like, I met Josh from Grand Trunk Games. He made the new Shikoku 1889 version. And so I'm friends with him now. And like, I helped him with that new version and like, got to see all the prototypes and stuff. So that was cool. But that was probably because like, I was making videos about it.

[00:09:34:00 - 00:11:48:09]

Crystal: I will say that I think you and I have both become friends with people who are definitely famous in the world of board gaming. And I'm eternally grateful for some of those friendships, like, especially with some of the game designers and other people that we've met over the years. I'd say Geoff Engelstein has become a really good friend of mine. Like, whenever he and his wife come to Vegas, like, we go out to dinner and we hang out. And like, Geoff is one of the smartest people I know on the planet. Like, he's so smart. And his books are really awesome. And his content is always really cool. And he's just a huge nerd in like the best way possible. So I think being able to forge friendships with other really interesting people who just happen to also be in the world of board games is so, so, so magical. And I'm just infinitely grateful that the podcast has basically given us that opportunity. I mean, would it have happened? Otherwise, maybe like if we'd gone to a board game convention and met like I maybe would have forged some of those friendships anyway. But I think just being more visible because of our podcast has made other people take note of us. We're not celebrities, but like, hey, I've heard of you is a thing. Like, you're not a scary non entity. You're a known quantity, basically.

Ambie: You exist.

Crystal: Yeah, you exist in a good way. I mean, I called it when Rich Sommer was still doing his board game podcast Cardboard. I called in one time because it was a live stream like he live streamed his podcast and had people call in live. And I was on my lunch break from work one time when he went live. And so I called in. And he was like, Oh, Crystal from Board Game Blitz. And I was like, Rich Sommer knows who I am. Like, like, Rich Sommer was on Mad Men, y'all. Like, he's also like legitimately famous. And he knew who I was from the sound of my voice. And that blew my mind. I still never gotten to meet Rich in person. We were supposed to meet up at BGG con years ago. And then he didn't end up going that year. And I've just never been able to meet him in person. But I hope to someday because he's also a delight.

[00:11:48:09 - 00:11:59:00]

Ambie: All right. Next question is from Avron. And they asked what game or games has your opinion of change the most? Was it overplay, opponents, otherwise, that prompted the change. So I guess this is in the past ten years?

Crystal: That's a really good question.

[00:11:59:00 - 00:13:16:10]

Crystal: Yeah, we've been doing this for 10 years. So a lot of time has passed. I think I've done a weird 360 on what most people would consider to be a modern classic board game. And that is 7 Wonders. When I first was really growing my collection, which was around the time we started the podcast, I owned 7 Wonders and I played it semi frequently. And then I don't know, like, at some point, my brain was just like, I'm bored of this game. I don't like it anymore. And it wasn't that the game was bad. I just I didn't want to play 7 Wonders anymore. Like if somebody was playing 7 Wonders, I was like, no, thank you. Not interested. And I've completely come back around now. I think 7 Wonders is a very elegantly designed game. And over time, and as I've become a more knowledgeable and experienced board gamer, I've been able to see the elegance in it, I think better and enjoy the experience more. And I'm not quite sure how I went on that journey exactly. But it happened. And I just recently tried the new 7 Wonders Dice, and it is also very good. And it just makes me want to play regular 7 Wonders more too, because it's it's just a really solid game.

[00:13:16:10 - 00:13:20:20]

Ambie: I actually never like played it that much. I'll believe you.

[00:13:20:20 - 00:13:24:15]

Crystal: Okay, good. I'm glad you trust me after 10 years.

[00:13:25:25 - 00:13:26:25]

Crystal: So what about for you?

[00:13:26:25 - 00:14:23:06]

Ambie: I was actually looking at our about page because that was written before we started the podcast and hasn't been changed.

Crystal: Oh my gosh, is it still the same?

Ambie: I think the descriptions might be the same. But I think like a lot of my likes are similar. It's just I don't play as many like I used to like thematic euros a lot. And we actually started the podcast before I got into 18xx games. So that was kind of like a thing too.

Crystal: That happened alongside the podcast

Ambie: Yeah, and then kind of like started playing those more than euros, but I still like thematic euro games. There weren't as many back then when we started the podcast, like thematic euros were a rarity. Now there's more of them. But then like I haven't played 18xx games in a long time now. But that's more like a time thing. I haven't played any like heavier games at all. I also don't play two player games as much anymore. And we used to play that a lot. But it's not that I don't like them. So like my opinions of the games haven't changed. It's more like my life has changed. My ability to play

[00:14:23:06 - 00:15:05:20]

Crystal: Your engagement with different types of games has changed.

Ambie: Yeah

Crystal: I mean, that's the case for me too. I don't have as much mental capacity for board gaming that I used to. And the pandemic had a lot to do with that. Like, everything post pandemic for me mentally has been different. And so I find like at conventions, I can usually like hunker down and like get into it for a few days. But then I'm exhausted afterwards. I think maybe that's just because I'm old now. I don't know. We were so young. Like, I was 30. No, I would have been 31 when we started the podcast, which seems bananas to me now.

[00:15:07:19 - 00:15:15:08]

Crystal: All right. Nyobari asks, what was the best movie of the last 10 years? I made a list.

[00:15:16:08 - 00:15:19:00]

Ambie: Oh, you did. I haven't looked at the last 10 years.

[00:15:19:00 - 00:15:28:26]

Crystal: I had to make a list because there have been a lot of good movies, I think, that have come out in the past 10 years. And I have a few that I especially love.

[00:15:28:26 - 00:15:35:17]

Ambie: I don't watch that many movies. So for me, it's probably Kpop demon hunters, because that's like definitely my most watched one.

[00:15:37:09 - 00:15:38:10]

Crystal: It's really good.

[00:15:38:10 - 00:15:59:23]

Ambie: Yeah, I really liked it. I like the songs a lot. I like like all so yeah, I tend to like musical movies. Like, I like Disney movies a lot. But I like like all the songs in Kpop demon hunters. All of them are very catchy and good hits and stuff. So a lot of times, there's like a couple songs that I don't like as much in musical movies. That's really not the case in Kpop demon hunters. And that's why that's at the top of my list.

[00:15:59:23 - 00:16:46:13]

Crystal: I will say that I think at this point, when it comes to visual media, I'm more of a fan of television than I am of movies. And I really like that prestige television shows have really come into their own over the past like 15 years or so. I think, you know, there were some really good shows prior to that, especially on like HBO and things. But I think Breaking Bad was kind of the show that really like broke things open for television in a way that hadn't been done before that people realized, like, it feels like movies used to be that they didn't have a lot of movies. And I think that's what I think. Movies used to be the thing actors wanted to do, right? And now people want to do prestige television, like it's a big deal to be on a really good television show. So while television, I think has my heart for the most part, there have been some amazing movies. I know that and Nyobari only asked for one movie, but I'm going to give you a bunch.

[00:16:47:17 - 00:17:39:22]

Crystal: My favorite movies from the last 10 years, my favorite movie of all time came out in the last 10 years. So that's number one for sure. And that's Arrival.

Ambie: Oh yeah, that was good. That was the last ten years? Okay.

Crystal: Yeah, it was a 2016. And then next up for me is Everything Everywhere All at Once, which I adore.

Ambie: Oh yeah, that was good. Oh I also love Crazy Rich Asians!

Crystal: Oh, yeah, Crazy Rich Asians is on my list. Michelle Yeoh is just like a goddess. I love her in everything. I used to be really like kind of scared of and wouldn't do horror movies, but It and It Chapter Two are both actually really legitimately good movies. And I'm now watching the television series it Welcome to Derry and loving it as well. Like they're really good shows and movies. So and then Inside Out technically came out in 2015. So I'm counting that Disney,

[00:17:39:22 - 00:17:44:20]

Ambie: but this is the end of 2025. So like, does that count as the last ten years? I don't know.

[00:17:44:20 - 00:18:09:16]

Crystal: Don't care. I'm counting it! 10 years ago was 2015 kind of. And then my last movie is just one that has my heart. It's a rom com and it's called Last Christmas. And I don't know how many people saw it. But I love it so so so so so much. And I can't tell you why because it'll spoil the movie. So if you like Christmas movies and you like good rom coms, I recommend it. But I can't tell you why.

[00:18:11:08 - 00:18:16:02]

Ambie: Next question from Cosmic Beet - favorite and least favorite board game themes.

[00:18:16:02 - 00:18:48:13]

Crystal: My least favorite is still so easy for me. It's farming. I hate hate hate agrarian anything boring making crops and rai- I love animals like cute animals, but like just raising animals for the sake of points in a game boring like give me a cute something at least if you've got animals, but if it's just like, here's some farming stuff to do. I'm so bored. I don't want it like, the game has to be really good to get past something like that for me.

[00:18:48:13 - 00:18:52:16]

Ambie: Are there that many farming games now though? I don't know.

Crystal: I don't know about now.

[00:18:52:16 - 00:19:08:01]

Crystal: I'm just saying any game that we're like, even if it's like a light card game, like there have been some games that came out, you know, with like veggies and other things. And I'm every time I see one of those. I'm like, there's so many things in this world that you could pick that aren't a bunch of vegetables. Can you please?

[00:19:09:09 - 00:19:14:23]

Crystal: I don't want more games with vegetables. No more vegetables.

Ambie: I like vegetables.

Crystal: I'm going on strike.

[00:19:16:00 - 00:19:35:01]

Ambie: I think my favorite board game theme is time travel. I think I've talked about this before. Time travel is cool.

Crystal: Time travel is very cool.

Ambie: Like usually, like the game has to be good too. So I'm not like, yeah, like that's just if it's just theme and like, that's the only pitch then time travels like, ooh, that sounds cool. I don't know if I have a least favorite.

[00:19:35:01 - 00:19:41:22]

Crystal: And I used to be like that with space, but now there's a lot of space games. So I don't think I'm like that anymore.

[00:19:41:22 - 00:19:50:08]

Ambie: I'm trying to think of a least favorite board game theme. And I can't really think of one because I'm fine with boring stuff. As long as like, I what I like is when the mechanics match it and then it's like, okay, cool.

[00:19:50:08 - 00:20:35:07]

Crystal: I think one of my other like my favorite themes is anything art related, because there's actually a lot of room to play around there. Like there's games about making sculptures and pottery and paintings. And I actually just recently played Sand Art, where the game is got colored pencils in it. And you're literally filling a proverbial bottle with sand like you did when you were a kid. And I loved doing that when I was a kid. And so I was so excited. I was so excited about the theme. And then the game was fun, too. And that kind of stuff really gets me excited because it feels different than other games, you know, anything that's unique to like anything that I'm like, oh, I've never heard of that in a game before that will always get my attention.

[00:20:35:07 - 00:20:39:00]

Ambie: Yeah, we've talked about that before, too. We love a unique theme.

Crystal: Yeah, for sure.

[00:20:39:00 - 00:20:48:13]

Crystal: All right. So Andrea asks, how has the tech side of making podcasts changed for you from your first episodes to now

[00:20:48:13 - 00:21:00:28]

Ambie: It's changed quite a bit. We've gone through like multiple changes. So our first episode, we had three people, Cassadi used to be a co host to and we talked on Skype.

Crystal: Oh, gosh, we hated Skype

Ambie: Does Skype still exist?

[00:21:00:28 - 00:21:10:01]

Crystal: It does, I think. But like, Skype was never good. It just was really like kind of the only option at the time that like was free

[00:21:10:01 - 00:21:39:27]

Ambie: Yeah, it was the only free option.

Crystal: Yeah.

Ambie: And so, yeah, we would record in Audacity, which we still do. Although I use Dark Audacity now because Audacity got bought out by like some other company and I didn't like the changes that they made. But yeah, so then we each record on our own end, which we still do. And I would record a backup audio on Skype. So then we change from Skype to we did Zencastr for a bit.

Crystal: Right. We did ZenCastr

Ambie: Yeah. And then it started being paid.

Crystal: And we're cheap!

Ambie: Yes. And then we went to Zoom.

[00:21:41:01 - 00:21:41:26]

Crystal: Yup. We did Zoom.

[00:21:42:27 - 00:22:48:13]

Ambie: And then that was-

Crystal: For a long time we did Zoom.

Ambie: Yeah. But then it like cuts you off at 40 minutes. So we would have to like do multiple sessions. And then I started recording video. So like that's a big change. I used to edit everything on Audacity to when I started to do video, I was I started editing in DaVinci Resolve because that's the video program that I use now. I had used other ones before too. But we're not talking about video. We're talking about podcast. So like with my YouTube stuff, like I started using DaVinci Resolve and I got comfortable with that. And I realized that I can probably edit the audio of the podcast in the video decently because I was like getting comfortable with editing video in it. And so I was like, okay, we can record video. So we started doing that on Zoom. And then now we use Discord or VDO ninja, OBS ninja, I'm using OBS to record now instead of zoom, because I was like, oh, this won't have the 40 minute cutoff. And I can just record in OBS the videos. And that works.

Crystal: Yeah, it definitely works.

Ambie: That's most of the tech side. The website and stuff Toby made. So we were self hosted. We haven't changed that at all. Like Toby like made some hosting thing and he made the website and haven't changed that either. It was I was like, sometimes I kind of want some updates, but then you're like, whatever.

[00:22:49:22 - 00:23:12:08]

Crystal: I know, it's really the only thing that kind of has bummed me out over the years is other podcasters who use third party hosting services will have like all these cool stats that they know. Yeah, like where their listeners are from and how many people are listening in this country and wherever else and we just don't know. We can look up some things, but we don't have the type of analytics that...

[00:23:12:08 - 00:23:27:00]

Ambie: Yeah, Toby has some stats and stuff, but then it also he hasn't saved it for like all of the 10 years. And yeah, like he has to look it up and tell me and then I like don't ask him because it's not that big of a deal. But yeah, those also cost money and we're cheap.

[00:23:27:00 - 00:23:40:12]

Crystal: Yeah, because we can be. Like there's no, we've we've always kind of been of the mindset that like, we're not going to pay for something if we don't need to. And yeah, that has generally worked out okay for us.

[00:23:40:12 - 00:23:54:06]

Ambie: Although yeah, I did pay for the full version of DaVinci Resolve. Oh, yeah, another thing is I'll also do like a transcript. Now, I use like the automatic captioning stuff. Yeah, then I read over it. Because sometimes it doesn't get it right.

[00:23:54:06 - 00:23:56:22]

Crystal: It doesn't understand us quite perfectly.

[00:23:56:22 - 00:24:03:08]

Ambie: Yeah, I think one time like the captioning was just like some bad words. I'm like, Wait, we did not say that.

[00:24:04:16 - 00:24:05:24]

Ambie: Good thing I'm reading over this.

[00:24:05:24 - 00:25:03:08]

Crystal: Well, and us switching to having video as part of the podcast was a change that came because of the way Ambie was editing, but I think also was spurred by the way the podcasting landscape has also evolved in the time we've been doing the show. Like podcasting was a very well established thing when we started the show in 2015 or 2016. But video podcasts weren't really, like most people who were podcasting were just doing the audio. And now there are a lot of podcasters who their primary way of distributing their podcast is on YouTube. And like, that's kind of where they put their content. And we didn't start there, but we realized that there was some value to be had. And so, although of course, our separate YouTube channel for the podcast has like, almost no followers compared to our regular YouTube channels still, because you put all your awesome stuff like your video content on the regular channel, which makes sense.

[00:25:03:08 - 00:25:11:24]

Ambie: And I'd split those up before because YouTube didn't do podcasts back then. And it was like killing our channel. YouTube, anyway,

[00:25:11:24 - 00:25:59:19]

Crystal: YouTube's algorithms have been a thorn in our sides in a number of ways over the years. And that, I mean, honestly, like you just you got to roll with the punches when it comes to that stuff. And that's, yeah, we thankfully had never really had aspirations to turn this into a career. However, the hobby is a little too niche for the space to be populated by a lot of people. There are people who make board game content for a living and are successful at that. But it's a rough living, even for the people who are doing it well. Nobody out there is getting rich off board game content. Obviously, we don't necessarily care about being rich, but like, you know, worrying about where your grocery bill is, how your groceries are going to get paid for is a real thing. And so I think we always were just like, no, no, we're gonna have real jobs. And then we'll also do the podcast.

[00:25:59:19 - 00:26:07:25]

Ambie: Okay, next question from UncleGramps. If you could pick one under appreciated or lesser known board game that you would want people to know about, what would it be?

[00:26:07:25 - 00:26:24:25]

Crystal: Well, you and I have talked endlessly about Rosetta: the Lost Language, and I still contend that that game is not known by enough people. And there are lots of people out there who would really love it. It's not for everybody. But there are lots of people who don't know that game who would love it.

[00:26:24:25 - 00:26:40:26]

Ambie: Yeah, and for me, I've talked about Tragedy Looper before, and I've made videos on it. But that's like my lesser known board game. It's a time loop heavy deduction game. So it's not definitely not for everyone. But for the people it is for it's really good.

[00:26:40:26 - 00:27:13:13]

Crystal: And if we're looking for something approachable, the one that I tend to bring out over the past few years is Queenz: To Bee or Not To Bee it kind of just fell to the wayside during the pandemic and is a really, really fun game with like tetromino pieces and you're picking flowers and attracting bees to them and making honey and it's tile lane and it's so so so good. Every time I teach it to people, they're like, I've never even heard of this before. And then they are like, Oh, wow, this is really fun. So it's one that I think people should keep an eye out for.

[00:27:13:13 - 00:27:16:13]

Ambie: Oh, and he also asked, Who would your dream guest be for the show?

[00:27:16:13 - 00:28:07:15]

Crystal: Now, this is one of those things where are we saying dream as in would be amazing for board game content, or we just want to meet them or, you know, like there's a whole bunch of different angles. Because like, yeah, I think there are some legitimate celebrities who are board game adjacent who would be fun. I want to pick somebody that seems gettable, right? Like, like within the realm of possibility. And so I am going to say Brennan Lee Mulligan, famous for dropout.tv content. He is a board gamer. He's literally the voice of the board games in the game Date Everything, which cracks me up. Like, you can date everything in the game Date Everything. As the title suggests.

Ambie: that video game?

Crystal: Yeah, the video game. Date Everything.

Ambie: Okay, I've heard of that, yeah.

Crystal: He is the voice of your board games. When they come to life.

[00:28:08:16 - 00:28:23:22]

Crystal: And I think he would be a really fun person to interview or even Sam Reich, who is the CEO of dropout. Like, I know he's a huge super nerd, too. I think he would be really fun to talk to because he's smart and nerdy. I think those those guys would would make for some amazing guests.

[00:28:23:22 - 00:28:38:15]

Ambie: I think I guess Neil Patrick Harris is

Crystal: Oooh, yeah. For the puzzle stuff, too, especially.

Ambie: So like, he's an actor

Crystal: I also want to talk to him about how horrible Box Two was. I want to question Neil and be like, come on.

[00:28:39:22 - 00:29:03:10]

Ambie: Yeah, so like

Crystal: Box One, so good

Ambie: it might be possible. He's yeah, he's made Box One, Box two. He likes magic. He likes escape rooms. He's been on Escape This Podcast. He's been on a lot of escape room podcasts. So if we like started talking about more escape room stuff, then maybe we got him. And yeah, I know he's done a lot of like he's done some of the escape room board games too, because I remember seeing his name in the credits of one of those that I got. I talked about it.

[00:29:03:10 - 00:29:14:18]

Crystal: I mean, like, I think it would be a really neat interview, too, because like I watched Doogie Howser growing up and I loved How I Met Your Mother. And so I'm familiar with his work outside of gaming.

Ambie: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog

Crystal: Yes!

[00:29:16:12 - 00:29:21:15]

Crystal: Oh my gosh, I haven't thought about Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog in so long. Now I want to go rewatch it.

[00:29:23:09 - 00:29:58:28]

Crystal: Okay, Nyobari asks, what question do you wish you got asked during these AMAs? I think this was mostly a joke. But I honestly, I don't know if we have any specific things that we're hoping for when we solicit questions from people. We want to give you all the opportunity to directly engage with us. Like, obviously, I mean, you can do that anytime in our discord or whatever else. But we like having a little bit of a less structured way to have a conversation sometimes that isn't just around board games. So this gives us that chance.

[00:29:58:28 - 00:30:05:05]

Ambie: Yeah, and I can't think of a good question either. Just like I can't think of good answers sometimes.

Crystal: Your answers are always great.

[00:30:06:19 - 00:30:18:08]

Ambie: But like, any question that's that I know the answer to would be a good question. All right, GameritisGuy asked, what has been the most surprising thing that has happened in the last 250 episodes? So many episodes to think back through.

[00:30:18:08 - 00:30:31:04]

Crystal: I actually think I have a decent answer for this one.

Ambie: Really?

Crystal: And it relates to something that we discussed before we recorded Episode One.

Ambie: That we're biweekly?

Crystal: No.

[00:30:32:08 - 00:30:37:22]

Crystal: So we already mentioned all the tech stuff earlier and how we record two different versions of our audio, basically.

[00:30:37:22 - 00:30:38:19]

Ambie: Oh, yeah.

[00:30:38:19 - 00:31:47:05]

Crystal: And we before we ever recorded our first episode, we had a discussion as a group that we recognized that at some point, technology might fail us and we might lose an episode like we might fully record something. And then because of a glitch or whatever that we may lose the audio for it, even if we were doing the double recording or whatever else. And we have lost single audio tracks before and had to use backups. But in 250 episodes, we've never actually lost any episodes. Like we've never had to completely rerecord any of our content. And

Ambie: assuming this one doesn't get lost.

Crystal: Oh gosh. I honestly like, Ambie, I want to give you credit for that because you're the one handling a lot of the technical logistics. And so obviously, I think you deserve a lot of the kudos here. But we were just terrified of losing our audio, I think. And so we were very diligent. And that's not to say that podcasters who have ever lost content weren't diligent. I'm not trying to say that. But definitely almost very deliberate.

[00:31:48:07 - 00:31:56:29]

Ambie: Yeah, we've come close. I think one time instead of saving, I just exited.

Crystal: I remember that.

Ambie: And then I was like, oh no. But then I had the backup.

[00:31:56:29 - 00:32:14:00]

Crystal: So yeah, we've come close, but we've never actually lost any content, like in its entirety. And for 10 years and 250 episodes, that seems impossible, honestly. If you had told us 10 years ago that we would actually succeed, we would have been like, hell no.

[00:32:15:09 - 00:32:21:10]

Crystal: Okay, Lance asked, how many games could you teach without the rulebook?

[00:32:22:14 - 00:32:28:05]

Crystal: Okay, well, it's so here's the caveat is do all the rules have to be correct?

[00:32:29:05 - 00:32:31:08]

Ambie: Because I could teach all of them, just not correctly.

[00:32:31:08 - 00:33:16:20]

Crystal: Well, no, I'm saying like, I think I could mostly teach a lot of games without their books. Now, if I couldn't use the rulebooks to clarify things, or look little details up, I think I would get some stuff wrong. But if I had to, like, guess, I would say probably 200 or 300 games that I could I could likely teach without their rulebooks. And a lot of them are going to be lighter card games, or smaller box games, like they're, I'm not teaching Star Trek Ascendancy to anybody without the rulebook. In fact, even with the rulebook, I'm barely teaching it. But yeah, I think more than most people would assume. I think if you're a hobby board gamer, I bet most people know the rules to more games than they think.

[00:33:16:20 - 00:33:25:08]

Ambie: Well, for me, I was thinking like two or three, because I think it used to be more. But like, I always have to check it for setup and stuff.

[00:33:25:08 - 00:33:30:29]

Crystal: And so it does teach- so the setup is not technically teaching it though, right?

[00:33:30:29 - 00:33:35:26]

Ambie: Well, I assume like you're teaching and playing. I mean, set up is part of like the game.

[00:33:35:26 - 00:33:47:02]

Crystal: But it's still technically if someone else got the rulebook out and used the rulebook to properly set the whole game up, and then you walked over and taught it without the rulebook. And taught it without the rulebook. It's still within the spirit of the question.

[00:33:47:02 - 00:33:55:02]

Ambie: I mean, well, if someone else got the set up and read the rules, and then you went over and played it with them. That's also you teaching them.

Crystal: Well, that's not you teaching them though.

[00:33:56:04 - 00:33:58:00]

Ambie: Well, you teach them a little bit, and then they read the rules.

[00:33:59:24 - 00:34:35:25]

Ambie: For me, my definition is that I would have to also set it up. And I used to know it for more, but like, I haven't played a lot of those games. So I'm like rusty on a lot of them. So like The Mind, I'm pretty sure I could do it. But like, I don't I know, like the setup was...

Crystal: You could absolutely

Ambie: lives per person. But then I forget like eight or 12. It might have it on the card. So maybe like,

Crystal: You could totally, you'd remember once you got it out.

Ambie: Maybe, it depends like the different players and how many how many levels there are per player. That's the thing. I think I could do Bomb Busters right now because that's like the game that we've been playing a lot.

[00:34:35:25 - 00:34:43:18]

Crystal: Yeah, Lance also asked what's been our most gifted game as in which game do we gift to others the most

[00:34:43:18 - 00:35:16:04]

Ambie: For me, this is My First Adventure: Finding the Dragon. I think I've talked about this on the podcast before. I've also made videos about it. But this is a choose your own adventure like RPG type thing for little kids. They don't have to be that little, I guess. But I read it to them. I read it to my kids when they were two years old. And it has like, three pages, you flip it and you let them choose, they point and pick which one they're doing and then flip to that page or like flip that page over and see what happens. They really loved it. And other kids like it too. And so like, I've gifted it to a lot of people, like when their kids are two or three or whatever. That's been a successful gift.

[00:35:16:04 - 00:35:40:06]

Crystal: I think Just One has been a game that I've definitely gifted to a lot of people, because it's approachable and super fun. And I've introduced people to it and they've liked it. And so then I'll gift it. And Strike. I've also gifted to a number of people, usually after they've played it with me. But yeah, basically, if people play one of those games with me and have fun with it, I'm like, Okay, now here's your own copy.

[00:35:40:06 - 00:36:03:05]

Ambie: Yeah, I think like for those other games, like most of the time we don't I mean, we give away a lot of our old games and stuff, but not like multiple copies of the same game because usually we don't have that. But yeah, the reason mine was a kids game is because like I tend to buy gifts for children more often.

Crystal: Yeah.

Ambie: All right. The final question is from Tazcat24. What milestones have gone by for you in the last 10 years?

Crystal: Oh my gosh, a lot.

[00:36:03:05 - 00:36:08:11]

Crystal: Do we want to like do all of yours and all then all of mine or what do you want to do?

[00:36:08:11 - 00:36:08:24]

Ambie: Chronologically.

[00:36:09:24 - 00:36:11:04]

Crystal: Can we can we chronologically?

[00:36:11:04 - 00:36:18:19]

Ambie: Okay, I don't know. Well, so like I got married before the podcast started. And then I was like, I don't have anything to do now.

[00:36:19:23 - 00:36:28:06]

Ambie: I mean, like, because like I did my wedding, I planned my whole wedding and stuff. And that was very busy. And then I was like, you know, I have all this free time now. So then started a podcast.

[00:36:28:06 - 00:36:51:10]

Crystal: Yeah. So what year did you get married?

Ambie: 2015.

Crystal: Okay, so and I had gotten married in 2014. Yeah, both of us were relatively newly married and then went, Yeah, we're bored. Let's start a podcast with some strangers. And so that was the beginning. And then I mean, I've moved multiple times when we started the show. Cassadi's daughter was an infant.

[00:36:51:10 - 00:36:54:05]

Ambie: Oh, yeah, she was born and then we started. Yeah.

[00:36:54:05 - 00:37:00:09]

Crystal: And so she got older after.

Ambie: Yeah.

Crystal: So Cassadi's daughter started growing up and we got to see that.

[00:37:00:09 - 00:37:05:18]

Ambie: And then Cassadi stopped. She left the show.

Crystal: She left the show after a couple of years?

[00:37:05:18 - 00:37:06:10]

Ambie: Yeah.

[00:37:06:10 - 00:37:14:03]

Crystal: Two or three years after we started because life just got a little bit too busy for her and we still love her, even though she's been gone for now a way long time.

[00:37:15:11 - 00:37:25:08]

Crystal: We still get emails occasionally. I think there's somewhere on the internet like that still has all three of our names because we still sometimes get emails addressed to all three of us, even though she hasn't been on the show in forever.

[00:37:25:08 - 00:37:28:11]

Ambie: Site has her on the about page, but it says former host.

[00:37:28:11 - 00:37:33:04]

Crystal: Oh, but people might not pay attention to that part.

Ambie: Yeah.

Crystal: And then your boys were born.

[00:37:33:04 - 00:37:40:13]

Ambie: I had kids. I got pregnant. That was a milestone. And then I gave birth and that was another milestone.

Crystal: To twins!

Ambie Yeah, twins.

[00:37:40:13 - 00:37:59:08]

Crystal: Which I did not know prior to you getting pregnant that identical twins were not a genetic thing, that it's just a random happenstance, right? Or whatever. Like, fraternal twins are can be genetically passed down. But identical twins are always just like a fluke, basically.

[00:38:00:09 - 00:38:24:13]

Ambie: I think there might be like, if you're doing, if you IVF or something, there's like an increase in probability of identical twins too. I'm not sure why.

Crystal: Oh, really?

Ambie: But some studies on it. But I don't know. I guess it has more chances splitting. But the identical twins are just when the egg splits. But I guess the genetic thing with fraternal twins is that it passes down through the mom that like there's more chance of an extra egg coming out. And so I guess that's a genetic thing through the mom. But we were "lucky."

[00:38:24:13 - 00:38:40:28]

Crystal: I mean, I can tell your boys apart. And I'm always so proud of it. Like when I know who is who. And they have very distinct personalities at this point. But like, even when they were still pretty young, when I first like I was like, Oh, I know which one is Kevin. And I know which one is Roy. I was so proud of myself.

[00:38:42:15 - 00:38:51:08]

Crystal: Because I never wanted to screw it up. Because I like I knew that those boys would correct me like you're on the ball. And they would be like, No, I was like, I'm not gonna mess it up.

[00:38:52:09 - 00:39:33:19]

Crystal: So then 2020 happened.

Ambie: Yes, that was that was big.

Crystal: 2020 was a really big year, especially for me. And not like I mean, the pandemic was huge for everybody. But I in 2020 also got divorced and moved into my own house that I purchased by myself, which was terrifying, but also really exciting. And getting divorced was obviously not like a happy thing at the time, but it ended up being a really good thing for me and my life. And it allowed me to reconnect with somebody from my past, who is now my husband.

Ambie: Yeah.

[00:39:35:16 - 00:39:54:21]

Crystal: So I'm now 40 years old and on my second marriage. But both of my nephews were also born in like the past 10 years. Like I my nephews were grow have been growing up and learning board games when I've been visiting them. You moved, the boys started school.

[00:39:54:21 - 00:40:00:16]

Ambie: Yeah, they've been going too just like everyone else has been growing. All these kids keep growing.

[00:40:00:16 - 00:40:12:08]

Crystal: I just it's both like sad and wonderful at the same time, because they're so cute when they're little, but then it's also really neat to be able to have like actual conversations with them too.

[00:40:13:09 - 00:40:30:28]

Ambie: Yeah, they're cute, but like hard when they're little. We keep seeing like people like two and three, two to three is like the peak cuteness just visually, but also like very tough to deal with because they're not like really communicating well. Yeah, they're not as cute visually, but they're

[00:40:30:28 - 00:40:37:08]

Crystal: I still think they're pretty cute. I don't deal with the rest of the stuff. So I just get to see the cuteness.

[00:40:37:08 - 00:40:44:19]

Ambie: Yeah, but if you look back at pictures, like from three years ago, which Facebook always shows me, they were so cute.

[00:40:46:10 - 00:41:20:28]

Crystal: Well, perhaps that's enough reminiscing. I will definitely this is going to be a long episode already. But I don't want to sound like a broken record. But I am so so so thankful and grateful to you, Ambie, and to our listeners for giving us the opportunity to make this show, because it has changed my life in ways that I didn't want to. In ways that I did not expect and has enriched my life in a lot of ways as well. And so I am just really, really grateful for you and for them and for the fact that we've been able to do this for almost 10 years now.

Ambie:Yeah.

[00:41:20:28 - 00:42:21:11]

Ambie: And that’s it for this week’s Board Game Blitz. Visit our website, boardgameblitz.com for more content and links.

This episode was sponsored by Grey Fox Games. Late pledges are still available for Vampire Survivors the Board Game! Don’t miss your opportunity to be the bullet hell in this amazing new game from Emerson Matsuuchi. And don’t forget to pick up some last-minute holiday gifts at GreyFoxGames.com where Blitzketeers like you get 10% off your entire cart, including exclusives, when you use the code BLITZ10 at checkout!

Join the blitzketeer community on discord for game nights, discussions and more by following the link in the show notes.

Support the show by leaving us a rating and review on your podcast provider

And if you like us a lot and want to support us monetarily (and get some cool perks), check out our Ko-Fi at ko-fi.com/boardgameblitz today!

Our theme song was composed by Andrew Morrow.

Until next time,

Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred bloopers

Five hundred twenty-five thousand minutes so dear

Five hundred twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes

How do you measure, a podcasting career?

Bye everyone!

Crystal: Bye!

[00:42:25:15 - 00:42:34:16]

Crystal

 semi frequently. I'm gonna sneeze Hold on. Okay, we're stuck. It's gone.

[00:42:37:09 - 00:42:47:05]

Ambie: We might have had that many bloopers.

Crystal: Probably, honestly,

Ambie: in 250 episodes, 525,600

Crystal: Yeah, that sounds about right.

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