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Episode 14: Playcon recap, plus what we think Brick and mortar stores need to do
29 Plays8 days ago
Shane has just returned from Playcon, and it sounds like he had a pretty decent time!
We also recap out Spiel Des Jahres predictions, and finish with a long chat about brick and mortar stores, and what they can do to stay relevant.
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Transcript
Introduction and Weekend Plans
00:00:14
Speaker
Hey, hey, welcome to Mate Let's Play with Steve and Shane. How are you, Shane? I am fantastic, mate. How are you going? Yes, also fantastic. It's ah Friday, which means we've got a weekend of possibilities when it comes to board games lying in front of us.
00:00:29
Speaker
We absolutely do, and I've had a whole week off this week, and I've done absolutely no board gaming.
Family Gaming Dynamics
00:00:36
Speaker
What? That's sacrilegious. It is sacrilegious. I did i did ah ah did ask Lauren if she'd like to play Steam Power.
00:00:44
Speaker
And I've got, let's see how we go. oh that's further than I thought you'd get. Yeah, no. And then even even Max to tonight, I said to Max tonight, look, once i've done my podcast, you're keen if I teach you a game?
00:00:58
Speaker
As long as it only goes for 30 minutes, Dad. so So that rules out steam power. Rules out steam power. but But anyway, no, I've been great, mate. I've been really good.
00:01:09
Speaker
And it's been 26 days since you and I have actually caught up, so I'm sure there's plenty of games that we've been playing that we can talk about tonight. Absolutely. And you mentioned your family, obviously we've had the school holidays in that time and my kids came back up from body school, which was lovely and also had stipulations on what games get played. And we, yeah we had a rule that every second night and different family member got to choose what games we played and it had to go for a minimum of one hour.
00:01:39
Speaker
And I'm like, that sounds great. Minimum of an hour, you know, we could fit anything in that. There's no, and all of my kids were like, One hour and one minute has passed. The end. Let's move on to something else.
00:01:52
Speaker
like Hey, look, I've got an hour out of the I'm happy with that. Well, at least at least they want to play a game with you, right? Oh, yeah. Actually, to be fair, Seb, is the epitome of a teenager who doesn't want to admit that he likes board
PlayCon Sydney Adventure
00:02:10
Speaker
games.
00:02:10
Speaker
like He loves board games. The only person who doesn't believe he loves board games is himself. Okay. Because I toured him 10 days in the USA and yeah he must have, there was just like every time he had some spare time, so he'd just look at me and go, 10 days, Dad? Like, yep.
00:02:27
Speaker
Every time I'm like, yep, no worries. Let's do it. ah Brilliant. And we're planning a ski holiday at the end of next year. So he was like, um well, can we play Snow Planner? Because it's about skiing. just still morning <unk>s Like, sound sure. Yeah.
00:02:41
Speaker
What's going on over there? apparently Apparently I have a severe thunderstorm warning coming over. Anyway, sorry about that. We'll make it quick. um Yeah. And then like, so he showed genuine interest in a couple of games, but then whenever I suggested another game is like, no, ah just want to play 10 days in the USA or Snow Planner.
00:02:58
Speaker
That's it. And I'm like, all right, I'll take it. and So yeah, it's very interesting. I did suggest, you know, to Max, so we can play Steam Power. Is it 30 minutes, Dad? I don't think so, mate. I don't think so.
00:03:12
Speaker
And he said, ah well, King of Tokyo or Downforce are my only other two. So, you know, just take it win. But King of Tokyo at two is not very good fun. No. And Downforce at two is terrible.
00:03:28
Speaker
So, anyway, I'll work out something with him. Downforce Jewel. When's that coming out? Downforce Jewel. I'm this king of Tokyo jewel, but yeah I haven't got, I haven't got that yet.
00:03:41
Speaker
So, uh, speaking of games and the fact that we are talking about games, you have just been on to a two day board gaming convention. so tell us about PlayCon.
00:03:52
Speaker
Oh, it's three days, three days, mate. We, um, I flew into Sydney on Friday morning, took some time off work just to, and it was, it was actually Ingrid and Shane and, uh,
00:04:06
Speaker
And credit to them both. They reached out to me ages ago and said, but we're going to play con. We'd love for you to come. And there was a big, please, please, please, please. So I ah went, okay, let's let's let's have a little bit of an explore. So I had a look.
00:04:25
Speaker
And honestly, you know, $110 for three days for a ticket. And then ended up jagging some flights for dirt cheap to Sydney. And booked myself into this hotel room, which is ah hilarious story in itself.
00:04:41
Speaker
um Got a King Deluxe suite with a balcony. yeah And I thought, this is brilliant. All right, done. I'm locked in and flew into Sydney.
00:04:53
Speaker
And I must thank the More Than Meeple guys because I caught up with them both at the airport. And they were very clearly visible because they're both wearing their own windshield as it says more than meeples on the back of it. so Yeah, yeah. and But they they you know to their credit, they said, oh, look, you know how are you getting there? How do you getting to the venue, Shane?
00:05:15
Speaker
um we've We've got a car. you want to come with us? We'll just meet. And i said, yeah, perfect. Thanks so much, guys. Yeah, They're such nice guys, those two. And anyway, so get to the event and um meet Shane and Ingrid.
00:05:31
Speaker
in the yeah King Deluxe room. And, God, it was hilarious. It was my King Deluxe room. Oh, actually, no. I didn't go there straight away, no, because I met them both ah so I could tuck my bag away because I couldn't check in until 2 o'clock.
00:05:47
Speaker
And, anyway, so we we went to the Board Game Barbecue event at PlayCon and it was really cool. but The setup was good, big venue, and...
00:06:00
Speaker
Plenty of people there. I think that averaged 550 people a day for the three days. And it was packed. um There was a couple of days where you like you were literally scrambling for a table to to sit down and play.
00:06:15
Speaker
um And I said to the guys, let's start off with a nice easy game. So we pulled out Azul and we played Azul. and Point be known, I did 3D print a trophy I have a big dice that was a, it's basically, it is a dice tower and it was a PlayCon trophy. So whoever had a Misha and Ingrid won the most games, wins the trophy for PlayCon 2025. So Mr. play Plays, plays the game of Azul every morning on his way to work, decided to start off with Azul to get a run on the board.
00:06:51
Speaker
ah like I didn't get a run on the board. No. No, I lost. Shane Trump, he killed us in Azul. And so we finished, we actually ended up playing Speed Azul because bit Ben T came up to us and and Ben goes, oh, what do you guys got planned next?
00:07:08
Speaker
We're like, we don't know. and And Ben was like, I've just had my deluxe, you know, absolute blinged out copy of Luthier arrive. I'd be keen to teach it.
00:07:21
Speaker
Are you guys interested? Anyway, so we're sitting there. like, oh, yeah. Anyway, so we went, yep, let's do it, Ben. So then we ended up playing speed as well, really fast to try and finish the game off.
00:07:34
Speaker
And then we spent the next seven hours learning and playing with you. I'll preface it, right? We had a break in between where we went off for a bit of dinner and stuff.
00:07:48
Speaker
But this game looks amazing when it's on the table. I don't know if you backed it. Yeah, I did. You did? Did you? Anyway, I'll explain it.
00:07:59
Speaker
But when Ben was bringing it out, we were just in awe of everything. It looked brilliant. And a credit to Ben T, because he hey one of the best ballgame teachers in our community here in Brisbane.
00:08:11
Speaker
And he talked us through it. We actually ended up playing the rehearsal round, so the the the actual rule book itself takes you through the first round. That first round took us an hour or so, and then the second round took us about the same amount of time.
00:08:31
Speaker
But it was really easy to grok after that. We got it. We knew what we needed to do. Yeah. um But it was just that we were so slow at playing the game. we We realised once we'd finished the game that...
00:08:45
Speaker
we the next time we play it we could probably do it in about two two and half hours okay because we were a lot quicker um and so we ended up I think we finished at seven um and we started around just after um just around what i around about one o'clock we started and so it was a big big game and it was really cool I really enjoyed it totally recommend it um I didn't see the Dice Tower until a bit later that night.
00:09:18
Speaker
Here we go. Thank you very much. There we go. Everyone knows there's a thunderstorm coming. And did you get the Dice Tower with it? thank you very much there we go everyone knows there's a thunderstorm coming um and the did you get the ice tower with it Honestly, I don't remember. I know I didn't go the crazy expensive one. i went i think there was a standard de deluxe and then ah you've got too much money edition. I just went for the deluxe.
00:09:47
Speaker
Maybe this would have been the too much money edition because the dice tower itself, when you put the dice in, as it goes down, it plays tune. Oh, no. Yeah.
00:09:59
Speaker
It's brilliant. Like you hear this bing, bing, bing, bing. Oh, that is cool. I saw that later. We didn't have that out for the game. um And anyway, so we we ended up, we played it after between, I'm trying to think of the point scoring, but Ben ended up winning that one.
00:10:18
Speaker
Shane was second and Ingrid and I tied for third and fourth. And it was just so cool because I got to the last round and, you know, I mapped it out person perfectly, right, where um I could, what you're trying to do is you're trying to,
00:10:36
Speaker
you know put on a performance. And so you've got a conductor and, but then you've got instruments that you've got to then match with the conductor. And, but then you've got to also to the instrument, you've got to get it prepared before the performance.
00:10:51
Speaker
So then you've got certain things you've got to do. And it's got a really cool mechanics. zoom remember, you know, in furnace, we've got that bidding mechanic. Yeah. In this game, you've got the same mechanic. You've got bid for the sections you want to do on the board. So worker placement.
00:11:08
Speaker
And I i thought myself, okay, if I bid here, bid here, bid here, bid here, I'll be able to take a card from a pile all the way through to a performance in one round.
00:11:21
Speaker
Yeah, right. But I need a lot of luck coming my way because ah i thought if I a bid high here, if I come in second there, as long as I don't take a certain card, I'm still going to keep going.
00:11:33
Speaker
And that's how it worked out perfectly. I took it all the way through, did the performance, And scored a stack of points. And, um, yeah, look for a seven hours. We played it for seven hours. It's not a seven hour game.
00:11:45
Speaker
It is a two, two and a half hour game. When you understand it. Um, I really enjoyed it. I enjoyed it more than distilled. A lot more than distilled.
00:11:58
Speaker
Um, and I think, I think we all did. Everyone on the table loved it. And, um, and And Ben did such a good teach. It was really good. So then we went off to a a quiz night hosted by Dan. Dan did a great job.
00:12:16
Speaker
It was hilarious. There was a moment in a the quiz night where there was me, Ingrid, Shane, G-Money and Martin martin Wallace. um That was our table.
00:12:29
Speaker
And feel sorry for the next table that was next to us because there was there was this moment where in the quiz night where you had to um label the screenshots that were on this bit of paper of what board game is this.
00:12:43
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Number two board game on there was Brass Birmingham. And we had to mark the table next to their sheet.
00:12:55
Speaker
They got it wrong. And unless and martin Martin just went, I can't believe he lost it. It was hilarious. It was absolutely hilarious. How did you not get this one?
00:13:08
Speaker
And I did have to rule check because I said, look, you know, do we get double points? Because we did have Martin on the table. And they said, no, we're going to deduct points off you for that Yeah, for It's got to be a deduction. Yeah. That was good fun. It was hilarious. It was really good. It was just good value and a nice ending to the night. I think we came about six in the quiz night out of 11.
00:13:28
Speaker
So
Board Game Events and Challenges
00:13:29
Speaker
not too scrubby. um And then i ended up we ended up playing a game Scout. Always good fun. Yeah. And then I hung around and played ah game which – It's not available here in Australia, but a lady had the game and I played it with Martin and this lady and another guy.
00:13:51
Speaker
Fishing by Freeman Freeze. Trick-taking game. Yep. Such a good game. I loved it. ab got absolutely smashed by Martin and he made sure everyone knew that he'd beat us.
00:14:06
Speaker
But it's it's such a good trick-taking game. So in fishing... you know you're playing a standard trick-taking game, so you're playing cards to beat, and then you've the green, which is trump card.
00:14:18
Speaker
However, when you refill your hand, so you are then, if you don't have 10 cards, you're then refilling from a ah deck of cards, but those deck of cards get stronger and stronger and stronger.
00:14:33
Speaker
So you actually you actually want to try and time when you win and when you don't win. so that you can actually get some of those stronger cards. I absolutely did nothing like that. I just went nuts on winning every single hand that I could do, just going, ha, ha, ha, ha. ha I got 30 points in one round.
00:14:49
Speaker
And then I went, oh, shit, I'm not going to be going to that. I'm not upgrading any of my cards now for quite a while. And everyone else just you know went flying past me. and Such a good game.
00:15:02
Speaker
um I cannot wait. I... I can't see it coming out of Australia yet for a while, but I think I can get it on Amazon and get it from the States. So I'm keen to get it.
00:15:13
Speaker
Fair enough. So that was but was Friday. So, you know, apart from Luthier, a stack of games were played. Then on Saturday. No, no, no, no, no. Hold up.
00:15:24
Speaker
Yeah. All right. You can't jump to Saturday. you told you You threw out the carrot of the king bedroom and we never got back to it. Yeah, so anyway, i checked into the King bedroom.
00:15:39
Speaker
And Ingrid came with me. And because it was hilarious because I heard about Ingrid's room the night before where they couldn't even open up their door before it hitting their bed. wow ah So I'm thinking, shit, what am I in for?
00:15:53
Speaker
And the the balcony was a wall.
00:15:59
Speaker
As you walked out the side door, it was like this aluminium wall that looked up on other units. So I had no view. it It was like almost a smoker's alcove yeah for a non-smoker.
00:16:12
Speaker
What the hell is this shit? This ain't a balcony. It was quite funny. and then um But at least you know I did have a king bed. So it was a king deluxe room. However, it was right next to the elevator.
00:16:25
Speaker
So every time someone came up, home at one in the morning, two in the morning. The elevator's opening up, their gas bag, and I had a terrible sleep. So, but anyway, room aside, back to gaming the next day.
00:16:41
Speaker
ah so we got we got there nice and early and we ah played Pergola. Yeah, cool. We learned and played that one. So that one's coming thanks to VR. ah You and I are going to review that in the next couple of weeks.
00:16:56
Speaker
Mm-hmm. So I won't talk about our experience of that. We then moved on to certain game called Bomb Busters, which I'm sure we're going to chat about later.
00:17:09
Speaker
yeah And we played four missions of that. That was good good fun. It took us forever to work it out at first, though. Yeah, it's kind of counterintuitive, right? Like you go, well, hang on, how am I going to get more information? Yeah.
00:17:24
Speaker
Because you can only give you that one little bit of information the start. Yeah. But then you figure it out because it's you put everything in in sequential order. Yeah, you do. Yeah. Away you go. yeah Then you're just pointing, right? so but Someone said it was something like you know it's the the ultimate go fish version of go fish, right? Because you're saying, do you have a two?
00:17:44
Speaker
No, I don't. Or yes, I do. I've made a pair of twos. So... ay um It's really hard at two players because like Raph and I played it a bit at two and depending on the amount of players you have is the amount of misses you get.
00:18:01
Speaker
And in two players, you get two chances. Yeah. Yeah. And you still only get the information about where one thing is. And so I find it, it's actually harder at two than it is at higher play counts. Yeah. It would be. We we played it four.
00:18:15
Speaker
It just took us forever to work out how our starting mission, what tiles were what. And it, We ended up calling someone over and saying, hey, what are we doing here? and And that person helps us out.
00:18:28
Speaker
And then I ended up playing Castle Combo. Oh, lovely. That's a great game. Well, I think it is anyway. Oh, you don't. ah No.
00:18:40
Speaker
your cup of it's not my cup of tea. I played it and that's all I can say. I'm playing it on BGA at the moment too and um um honestly, I'm just pressing buttons.
00:18:52
Speaker
Yeah, okay. So don't think I am a fan because I had it for sale there as well and I was considering buying it, so I'm kind of glad i didn't. Yeah, fair, cool. And then I played Sausage Sizzle.
00:19:04
Speaker
You heard of that? Okay. good um No, I don't think I have. Oh, it was such... Actually, your hang on. Is that a Phil Walker-Harding game? Is this like that Australiana series that he did? I don't know if it's Phil Walker. It's Ian O'Toole.
00:19:17
Speaker
um okay And basically you've got, it is Australian though, because you've got yeah these chips of that Australian animals. You've got a kangaroo, you've got a quokka, and you've got emu, and you've got a few others, right?
00:19:33
Speaker
And you're rolling dice. And you're basically rolling dice. And it's like Yahtzee. So if you imagine Yahtzee, you're rolling dice, and then you score points to, so let's say, for example, yeah I'm going to go quokka.
00:19:45
Speaker
because you rolled two quokkas. And so then you're rolling dice to try and get as many quokkas as you can get, and then that gets you points for that round. But that goes against the score of the quokka. So you cannot score quokkas for the next, you know, until, you know, the next lot of rolls.
00:19:58
Speaker
Your quokka's done. So then you're rolling, okay, and now kangaroos. And so, but also too, you have these dice that have a sausage on there. And if you get your sausages all out, it's basically like Yahtzee.
00:20:14
Speaker
so you get the maximum points that you can get ah for it. It was really good fun. And there was a point there where we're all just going, sausage, saucage sausage,
00:20:27
Speaker
You try and go for the full sausage. and Stop it. Stop it. It's a PG show.
00:20:36
Speaker
didn't say it. I just laughed. I just laughed. Yeah, anyway. And so you're going for all sausages to come out. and And everyone's just chanting, sausage, sausage.
00:20:47
Speaker
And it was good fun. Really cool fun dice game. ah But just said, this is Yahtzee, really. ah Because you can't score anything.
00:21:00
Speaker
You know, kangaroos more than once. You can't score the quokkas more than once or whatever it might be you're trying to go for. However, if you if you get if you get the full suite of sausages out, you are scoring messages at maximum points.
00:21:16
Speaker
I'm just thinking we've got Yahtzee and then we've got Dice Rome, which is considered Battle Yahtzee, and now we've got Sausage Yahtzee. Sausage Yahtzee. ah But it was good. It was really good fun.
00:21:29
Speaker
That's interesting. i i am i I am going to buy it because it's a really good filler game. um And it was Ingrid that convinced me. She goes, have you ever played this before? I said, no. and and Because I met Ian O'Toole the night before.
00:21:45
Speaker
ah and he um So I said, oh, let's let's give it a go. And, God, it was funny. It was hilarious. um And then we ended up going back to the library and the guys have never played Raiders of the North Sea before.
00:21:59
Speaker
Oh, yeah, I saw. I think Ingram, one of the the three of you put up photos of Raiders. Yeah, yeah. ah So i taught Raiders and hilariously Sam walks past, Sam McDonald walks past us and goes, classic game, guys.
00:22:16
Speaker
yeah wait Yes, it is. And such a good game. ah So I taught Raiders to the guys. um And then we ended up finalising the night with Flip 7.
00:22:31
Speaker
um which I'm going to call it is my only win for the whole of PlayCon. Wow. So no trophy for you? No trophy for me. It was a terrible gaming weekend from winning, although awesome gaming weekend for fun.
00:22:49
Speaker
um So we ended up, because we ended up calling it early that night because we had a big night the first night. and We went ah went back to the hotel and went downstairs, had some dinner, in the hotel, and we ended up playing Flip 7 in the hotel, and the the owner of the hotel in the restaurant there walks past, so what are you guys playing here? You know, we were but talking about Flip 7.
00:23:09
Speaker
Yeah. And then day three, um we went back, we play, Ygritte wanted to teach Verdant, or Verdant. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
00:23:20
Speaker
The plant game. Flat out games, yeah. um I enjoyed that. Didn't mind that one. Again, it's that grid forming, similar to Castle Combo. um it was It was quite good.
00:23:33
Speaker
But also true prior to that, though, because we this was only kind of like we only played had about two hours to play before we had to leave and catch lights. We got taught three rounds of Crafting the Cosmos ah by Britta.
00:23:51
Speaker
Yeah, very nice. And... um Another game we'll be talking about. Yeah, we'll be talking about that one soon. And, God, that game looks so visually stunning.
00:24:03
Speaker
Yeah, cool. is I still haven't received mine yet, so I'm hoping next week. It takes a long time to get things to the the tip. I would probably say that would have been the game of the con.
00:24:16
Speaker
okay Everywhere you looked, someone was playing it or someone was buying it.
00:24:24
Speaker
um and it was, ah when you when you look at the board itself, it's it's stunning. Totally blinged out, mate. Yeah, nice. And I won't talk about it much more than that until we do our reviews, but it was good.
00:24:41
Speaker
was really good. i think i'm I'm pretty confident I could do a teach on it, so we'll be playing it and pergola, or as we called it, pergola. yeah I heard someone else call it pergola and I'm like, what the hell? It's pergola. Like tantrum house.
00:24:58
Speaker
They, they did a review on it and they, they, they called it pergola. It's, it's the American, uh, that's how they pronounce it. It's pergola. And so the whole, the whole con, we were just going, you know, how, how good was pergola yesterday?
00:25:14
Speaker
Uh, cause Ingrid and Shane loved it. Um, and, uh, That's what we just talked about was pergola, pergola, pergola. So when I do my review, it won't be pergola, it'll be pergola, just for shits and giggles.
00:25:28
Speaker
so um But yeah, that was that was it. It was such a nice play. Credit to all the guys that put it on, all the volunteers that were there. think they had something like 43 volunteers.
00:25:42
Speaker
helping out. G Money was there, helping out, and Haig. G Money, Haig was there. ah Lots of people from the Brisbane community that I saw walking around.
00:25:53
Speaker
There was the three Shanes there, so um there was three of us, and it was really good catching up with Shane as well, the other Shane. Not Shane K, the other Shane.
00:26:04
Speaker
And it was really nice to yeah know walk around and just see people as well. like I met a lot of people that you know knew me from my past life, you know when I was doing Instagram or Dice Tower.
00:26:17
Speaker
and you know At one point, you know there's me and Stella sitting there playing a game right next to each other and Tarrant's there as well. and You can see Tarrant teaching a game and it's like he's doing a YouTube clip. It's like you're watching him doing a live YouTube clip on how he teaches the game um because he's one of my favourite teachers of any ball game. If want play a ball game, I'll go and see if Tarrant's done a teach on it.
00:26:39
Speaker
I did actually say to him, you need to do a teach on Luthier. And he he just smiled at us because we were right next to him as we were playing out the blinged out version. Yeah. um It was good. It was such a nice weekend. I think the highlight for me was just spending a weekend with Ibride and Shane, two of the nicest people in our community and really good friends.
00:27:00
Speaker
And we had such a nice time. my I'll actually let you know, the games of the con, let's see. Let me see if I can get this right. No, I don't think I've got it.
00:27:15
Speaker
So I don't want to... Both Ingrid and Shane said their game of the convention was Raiders of the North Sea. Oh, okay.
00:27:25
Speaker
Cool. Yeah. Mine was Luthier. Yeah. Second was, for me, was Fishing. Yeah, okay.
00:27:36
Speaker
Yeah, really good. So, mate. You know, it was it was nice. It was really nice time with the guys. um The only thing missing was Lauren.
00:27:47
Speaker
It would have been great to have Lauren there, but she's not a gamer. No. yeah Well, what about me? It would have been great to have you there as well, but however... It's all good. I'm a little bit far away, and I don't know whether my wife, celebrating her 45th birthday, would have been... 46th birthday, would have been happy if I was...
00:28:07
Speaker
Two states away. Well, no, one state away. It's hard to believe. But yes, one state away, otherwise known as 35 hours, 3,500 kilometers away. But yes, one year I'll get down there. It's the same as I'm just so far from everything at the moment. And it's very hard to...
00:28:24
Speaker
make things work in the school holidays when that's the only time when we get to see our kids. So yes, one day, but not, not for the next couple of years, i wouldn't think. No, that's right. Well, next year, I believe they are hiring a bigger venue.
00:28:37
Speaker
So I think it's going to be yeah read about that yeah Sydney Convention Centre. Yeah. Which, darling haror yeah which that you know, honestly they did need because, you know, there was a lot of people in that room um and I'm sure a lot of people missed out on even trying to attend.
00:28:53
Speaker
um because, you know, that that would have been they would have been well at capacity. But, you know, credit to them. that was It was a good event, really good event. It would have taken up a lot of their time, a lot of their organisations, so it was fun.
00:29:09
Speaker
Well, the SteveCon up in Emiga, which is far less of an event. ah But if you recall, the last time we caught up, I was saying about how we were about to lose power and I was going to host a board game day yep at the school while power was out.
00:29:26
Speaker
remember that. It was. An out-and-out success. I was so happy. Well done. So I set it all up. My kids, I had the PlayStation and the Switch set up on two different monitors, and then we had three board gaming tables set up.
00:29:39
Speaker
I played, i think, 14 games in one day, and it was like Bomb Busters, ah did I ran a game of Ready, Set, Bet with nine players, yeah which was just insane.
00:29:54
Speaker
yeah And I rolled the dice. I did everything i didn't do the app. I wrote i did it all myself. And that is exhausting, I tell you. ah just so yeah There was a point there when I'm rolling the dice and I'm moving I'm commentating. you know I'm like, oh, here comes number three. and And I'm going. And then I'm like, I looked up. I'm like, have you guys all finished betting?
00:30:10
Speaker
they're like, yeah, we're out of chips. I'm like, oh, here I am, wasted my voice. And and nothing not about what I say matters. ah But no, it was but still awesome. And then what else got played a lot? We played Skull.
00:30:22
Speaker
That's Not a Hat. Expressions got a good run. The Gang. Oh, we had a great game um in The Gang. I was playing with... the full table, so six people.
00:30:34
Speaker
And it was a really good mix of some people who were hardcore poker people and some people who had no idea, which is my favorite thing to play that game because just the looks and the frustration mixed with the total. are doing?
00:30:46
Speaker
was like, oh, this will do. You know, grabbing a number with no idea. And we lost our first two rounds and then we won the next two rounds. And the the the round to decide it, because you've got to win three rounds to win the game, the round to decide the the two people who didn't really have an idea of what they were doing, they were chips one and two.
00:31:06
Speaker
I was chip three. And then the three other people who thought that they were amazing um poker players were four, five, and six. Right? So I thought, know, we probably got this. And the first two people flipped over, they had nothing.
00:31:22
Speaker
I flipped my cards. They were okay. the guy who was the got yeah The guy who was fifth, so he reckoned he had the second strongest hand, had a high cut and we're all like, what the hell are you doing?
00:31:35
Speaker
He's like, I just don't think anyone hit it. I'm like, and and i I was like, I'll lose it. Like was piercing myself laughing, but also losing my mind. Like you've just made out all game. Like you're, you know what you're doing and then you've just blown it on a high cut.
00:31:49
Speaker
So we ended up losing on that, which was hilarious. But, uh, Yeah, just a lot of those little games. I taught Draftosaurus to a husband and wife and their daughter. And it was one of those great moments where they were on Amazon buying it before the game finished. play Yeah, that's great. It's always cool.
00:32:06
Speaker
And what was actually even better than that was I taught them and the daughter would have been maybe eight or nine. And then I went on to some other games with another group and, and then I went back to where I'd put all the games down and here she is teaching draft draft, draft a soros to another kid.
00:32:22
Speaker
Wow. And I'm just like, how good is this? Yeah. So it was, it was, it was just a great day. We didn't play anything crazy heavy. We just kept it light. Helen and I had a good game of ticket to ride before everyone got there. And,
00:32:34
Speaker
That probably the heaviest game we played all day. So it was a cracking day. So not as, you know, it wasn't 500 people. There was about 15, but I'll take it. Well, I mean, you know, when's the next Steve Conn?
00:32:48
Speaker
The next power addict, I guess.
00:32:52
Speaker
Well, actually, to be fair, um Charlie, Charlotte, one of the teachers at the primary school, she was, we went out for dinner with all the teachers on, oh, what night was that? Oh, for Helen's birthday. It was Helen's birthday just towards the end holidays.
00:33:06
Speaker
And we were talking about things we can do this term. And Charlotte just yelled out from the other end of the table, when's the next board game day? was like, yes. So I got another one.
00:33:18
Speaker
At the end of every month. that Well, that's it. as I'm very keen to do more of it. And that was actually a really good space because we set up three tables, but you could have set up 15. It's a whole library. It's a large space where, you know, if I try to fit two tables into my lounge room, it'd get really squishy really quickly. So, yeah, it was it was a massive success. The only other game I thought I'd mention, which I did briefly mention at at the start, was Snow Planner.
Game Reviews and Family Connections
00:33:45
Speaker
So for those who aren't aware, Snowplaner was a game that came out a few years ago, but it was a Japanese release. It was wasn't necessarily widely available. It may have been on a Kickstarter, but they released a new Kickstarter with an expansion in a big box where you could just get the base game.
00:34:01
Speaker
So being a snow enthusiast and a board game enthusiast and a Kickstarter Tragic. Yeah, I backed it, got it, and it is a great game that has nothing to do with the snow.
00:34:15
Speaker
So...
00:34:18
Speaker
ah the theme is The theme is about as there as the Ollion theme is. Oh, wow. But it does work, though, because it is so pretty. It's like it's it is set in the snow. So it's lots of light blues and whites and those sort colours.
00:34:34
Speaker
ah You know, you are you are putting guests away into their rooms. ah the yeah One's carrying a snowboard and the other one's just there for hiking. But it's just a worker placement Euro game, realistically.
00:34:47
Speaker
um I compared it. Sorry? I was waiting for you to then say, you know, you're putting guests in their room and then you've got to murder them, like as in and in the Bloody Inn. The Bloody Inn expansion, yeah. ah No, it's really, again, theme doesn't really stretch this way, but each guest wants to look at a particular type of window.
00:35:10
Speaker
because that's thematic. ah So one wants to look at artworks, one wants to look at the slopes, the other one wants to look at buildings or something. No, wants to look at food. And so that, yeah, i mean, the theme is the theme, whatever. It's about as much theme as the crew.
00:35:26
Speaker
But ah the actions themselves, it's very, I got real Grand Austria Hotel vibes and also TOT Wakan vibes. So the the strength of your dice impacts the value of your actions and you start with really start with a three level dice and a one level die and you have to spend resources to boost those up into higher numbers and then when you get to a certain point in the victory point track you get an additional dice but it comes in as a one and they're just not very good actions but when you pull off an action with a six die you feel like you own the game like it's such a powerful move
00:36:02
Speaker
And it doesn't go down. Like it stays, once you get a dice to six, it stays at six for every round. But what's interesting is there's a there's a what do they call it? A part-time guest or so part-time worker that you can hire and you get victory points if you up the value of that dice, but then it goes back onto the board a little bit like the Mentat in Juni and Peary.
00:36:25
Speaker
Yes. So you pay a worker to get this worker. But its value is whatever it has been in the past. So um it generally is always stronger than anyone else's dice. So it becomes this bit of a race to see who can get that first. So the first player, ops like quite often in games when they have like a ah space to go to become the first player of the next round, it's kind of like, oh, I've got nothing else to do. I'll go and take first player.
00:36:52
Speaker
In this game, it's almost like it's the first action you take. You want to get first player so you can get so you can get that action, um which was it was cool. And like Grand Austria Hotel, like similar with putting the guests in and meeting the requirements, and each day they'll stay longer if you if you meet certain objectives. So this one will stay longer if you've got this many windows of this kit type or if you've got this many croissants to serve them or whatever.
00:37:17
Speaker
and But if you don't, then they'll check out and leave. Yeah. And then you get all these extra cards that give you victory points based on how many guests you've had stay in your hotel, how many, there's like a snowman tag on some of the cards, how many snowman tags you've got versus something else in the game. And it was just, it was just a really interesting work placement game that we played a few times and has a few things in it that just really tick boxes for me. And I guess one of the other things too, is that have this section you can go to where it's like a game. They're like, there's six of them and they're like objectives for the, for everyone for the whole game, but only three of them can get claimed.
00:37:56
Speaker
And if you claim them, you get a bonus when you claim them, but they're, That doesn't necessarily mean you get those victory points at the end of the game. It's ah it's ah it's said a it's an award. So it's like whoever has the most of this thing will get this many victory points at the end of the game. So you can claim it.
00:38:11
Speaker
That doesn't mean you're going to earn Yeah, okay. And then there's also another space. Yeah. And so you can see that someone took it. You're like, oh I'm going to i'm goingnna jag that off you. um And then there's another space as well where it's similar, but you get an additional action if you go there. So you you achieve this objective and then you flip over the card and now you've got your own action that no one else can do.
00:38:33
Speaker
So it does quite a lot and ah it's a simpler... simpler um I like guess a lighter version of both the games that it reminds me of the most, which is Grand Austrian Hotel and Tier.
00:38:44
Speaker
And like I said before, my son really enjoyed it and we played it a few times, which was a bit of a surprise to me. I didn't expect him to come out liking a dry Euro.
00:38:55
Speaker
But for him, the theme worked. Like it's a bit like Wingspan, right? Some people and so people just love Wingspan because of the birds. Well, he just loved it because it's the snow and he can't wait to go skiing again. yeah I'm like, well, whatever it takes.
00:39:07
Speaker
Yeah, whatever it takes, it connects. So ah yeah a really really, really good game. I'm very happy with the purchase. It was a little bit difficult to put together because I received a big box. don't received all the deluxe upgrades, but that was in a separate box to the game.
00:39:24
Speaker
And then some of those components after for the expansion, which I didn't want to use. And then you still got all the old components. They had to work out which ones you did need, which ones you didn't need. And the rules are very secondhand English.
00:39:35
Speaker
So it took a while to get to the point where I could teach the game. But once once we got to that point, it was a good time. That's good. That's good. That's awesome. You've been as busy as me, mate.
00:39:49
Speaker
ugly I don't think so. Busy doing other things for sure. hasn't certainly hasn't been a big board game time, but plenty games. I'll tell you what, my other son, Raph, loves Bandito.
00:40:00
Speaker
So we have been slamming Bandito. Such a great game. And we played a five-player game with the whole family and it was an absolute debacle. Like we were one away, as you usually are in that game, after about 30 cards had been played. And by the time there was 40 cards played, we were about 15 away.
00:40:17
Speaker
it And you're hanging off the table. you got no place to put the cards. You're closing closing bits off. Yeah. Such good game. It is good game. Awesome. Speaking of good games, what a great segue. We'll move over to our latest prediction results.
00:40:36
Speaker
I think I did pretty pretty bad in this one. But anyway, let's let's see how we go. I think I did all right. I think you did all right. The only thing I haven't seen is who the Kinder Spiel winner is. No, we both did not very well there.
00:40:51
Speaker
Okay. So as a recap, the Spiel des Jahres has been announced. I apologise if I pronounced that incorrectly. And we put in our votes. So for the Spiel, Shane went for Flip 7, I went for Bomb Busters, and Bomb Busters got the win.
00:41:07
Speaker
So I grabbed myself a nice point. And then the Kinder Spiel... um Where is the Kinderspiel? That's just a spiel. um Keep scrolling, Steve. Keep scrolling.
00:41:21
Speaker
Oh, I've run the gauntlet. ah You got it all. So top detour won, and that's what I put down. You went Cascadia Junior. so If I only went Wolfgang Walsh, I would have been fine.
00:41:31
Speaker
That was the only reason I went for it. and And then we both got the Kenner Spiel, which was Endeavor Deep Sea. So three for three for me. Well done. Yeah, I'm back after wow after the atrocious Golden Geek performance ah where you won, what, seven, nine to three or something.
00:41:50
Speaker
So I'll take a 3-1 win. the yeah It's interesting because the Bomb Busters would be, don't know how many competitive cooperative games have won the Spiel in the last year.
00:42:04
Speaker
Go five or six years. Because I reckon there'd be more cooperative games that have won it than individual games. Yeah, possibly. That'd be a good good thing to do because you've got to think you've got what's their fire what even what aren't you What's the fireworks one?
00:42:24
Speaker
ah Lanterns? No, not lanterns.
00:42:30
Speaker
We've got to try and put put on the best fireworks display.
00:42:37
Speaker
If you Google the last 10 years of Spiels, I reckon there'll be more cooperative games that won than individual games. ah So Sky Team last year, that was a cooperative. Yeah, cooperative.
00:42:49
Speaker
Dorf Romantic is cooperative. Cascadia, that was looks like the last one, maybe. Micro Macro. is cooperative. Pitchers, I don't know. Just One is cooperative.
00:43:02
Speaker
Azul, King Domino, Codenames. Yeah, it's definitely a bit of a swing. Hanabi, is that were thinking Yeah, Hanabi, that's one. Yeah. yeah so Yeah. Yeah, I think you're right. It's been's's there's less definitely less competitive than cooperative there.
00:43:16
Speaker
yeah Camel Up won. I didn't know Camel Up won. There you go. Great game. What did the Mind win? Did it win the Spiel? It's not listed.
00:43:27
Speaker
What year is that? 2017, maybe? thought it won. Maybe it won the Kennespiel. The Kennespiel. Let's have a look. and Endeavour, Daybreak, Challenges, Living Forest, Paleo, The Crew, Wingspan, Quacks, Tanks of Games.
00:43:48
Speaker
Yeah, it's not here either. Okay. Well, there's Crew, another another cooperative. Yeah. So... Cool. the Interesting fun fact. Bomb Busters, it's the first time I, at the time it was announced, I owned both the games that won the Spiel and the Kenner Spiel.
00:44:05
Speaker
It's always, there's always a game that wins where you're just like, ah I didn't even know that was a game, you know, until. Yeah. And even when it was announced, I knew of, I owned both of those games, which, yeah, again, is a bit strange.
00:44:17
Speaker
I must admit, after playing Bomb Busters, I can see why it won. It's good. Yeah, it's – I am surprised they beat Flip 7. um Like, i so i thought I thought Flip 7 would have won it. I think when we did it, I said, oh, I'll just go Bomb Busters for something different. But, you know, I guess, yeah, I mean, they're both great games. So, yeah.
00:44:41
Speaker
They both are great games. You would have thought Flip 7 was a shoo-in. But, however, you know, Bomb Busters is probably a little bit more that cooperative piece and it's getting the community together to play games. So, yeah.
00:44:52
Speaker
And it's it's definitely more thinky than flip seven. So you got to be doing the right thing to win as opposed to flip seven where you can just get jammed or get lucky.
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah.
Board Game Store Survival Strategies
00:45:04
Speaker
Or you just low ball every round. As soon as you hit 30 points, i pause. I pass. but Ingrid's ingrid strategy, i've I've worked out Ingrid's strategy from playing a few games.
00:45:15
Speaker
She passes whenever she gets two double-digit cuts. regardless of what her score is. Whenever she gets two double-digit cards, she passes, which is why I've stopped freezing her when she – as soon as she's got two double-digit cards, I don't freeze her because she's got to freeze someone else.
00:45:33
Speaker
There you go, England. More than it matters, she's still winning more than the rest of us. I know. She's killing us, and we'll wait for that message to come through. let' so let's see if we're right. That's good. Mate, ah I'd love to, you posed a really good question. this is a mess There's no segue here.
00:45:53
Speaker
But you posed a really good question on the Stephen Bodicore podcast, the podfather of gaming. And I'd love to you know have a bit of a chat to you about about it tonight. So do you want to just let the listeners know what that question was?
00:46:08
Speaker
Sure. So I spent a bit of time in Brisbane over Christmas and whenever I'm in a town and anywhere in the world, including Hawaii and Vancouver, if I'm there for a day, I'm going to find a board game store.
00:46:20
Speaker
And when I'm in Brisbane, that's pretty easy because we know them, right? There's Vault Games, it's Mind Games, there's More Than Meeples, there's now a second Vault Games, there's a couple of good games around. Yeah.
00:46:31
Speaker
There are. But as a general rule, I kind of focus on the vat Vault Games and more the meeples as my go-tos for board gaming in Brisbane. And then in other towns like Cairns, which is my closest city with a board gaming store, ah the Wicked Goblin was like holds a special place in my heart because it's the first place I bought, physically went in and bought a modern board game over the counter without ordering online, which was Lords of Waterdeep.
00:47:00
Speaker
And in the period of time between being in Brisbane to getting to Bemiga, I visited all of those stores, both in Brisbane and in Cairns. And I've got to say, I was disappointed. And why I was disappointed was because all of them on some level have moved away from board gaming as their main bread and butter.
00:47:19
Speaker
And that that, I want to also preface this by saying I don't blame any of these stores. People are in business to make money. That's, you know, you can't blame them for doing that. But my question was more to to the Board Games Insider podcast was more about what can board game centric board that stores do to,
00:47:38
Speaker
to compete in this market where Kickstarter is basically yeah a store for board gamers and online marketplaces so large. When you compare it to Warhammer and Magic the Gathering, where there's these strong communities and they've really taken over the board game store because there's higher margins, there's there's more interaction with with customers.
00:48:00
Speaker
For example, my son has just recently got into Warhammer and we went into the Warhammer store in Cairns. and the guy let him sit down and build his own mini and he had a full paint setup. So yeah area to paint and there's competitions with regards to how to paint different things and you can win minis and there's a free mini of the month.
00:48:20
Speaker
And that all makes sense because it all feeds into the same game, but you can't do that in board games because board games are all different. Like there's no point going and winning a harmonies, you know, promo if you don't own harmonies or you don't like it or whatever else. So,
00:48:35
Speaker
what what could board game stores do to retain customers moving forward? And came up with a couple of ideas, whether they'd be good or bad, I'm not sure. And that was kind of what I was asking them, like, what what do you guys think?
00:48:49
Speaker
And the one that the two theories were, rather than just have these board gaming spaces where people go and, like, involve games, if you buy something, you get to sit down and play games for free for the rest of the day, or you can hire the table for $10 for four hours.
00:49:04
Speaker
Like from a business perspective, you' got someone's someone's paid you $10 to use up a space in your store for four hours. That's not a great return on investment.
00:49:16
Speaker
Like they're sitting in your store. Maybe they buy a drink. Maybe they don't. And they're fully abiding by the the the rules and regulations that you've put in place.
00:49:26
Speaker
and similarly um someone one who is there for a Magic the Gathering, um what do they call them, draft event. after They're spending $70, $80 per person.
00:49:38
Speaker
for a two or three hour event. Like, you're mad if you don't do more of those than the other. So how can a store extricate more value out of the customer who's buying board games?
00:49:49
Speaker
So I had this idea that maybe they could do, like, you pay $10 per seat to do a teach of a game. And if the people who buy that game um who play that game end up buying it, they receive $10 off what they've bought. So $10, teach, learn, here's how play harmonies. Great.
00:50:06
Speaker
um You want to buy harmonies? All right, it's $10 off. And if you don't, sweet as. We made $40 on this table. Still made $10 or $40. Yep. Yeah, yeah. And instead of $10 over four hours, you've got $40 over an hour.
00:50:18
Speaker
That was kind of my theory. And then the other idea was on ah like on a but i rental basis. Like, for example, Vault Games has a rental component. So you can pay a membership and borrow games from Vault.
00:50:33
Speaker
But you need to be physically there to do that. And I was wondering whether it would be financially viable to do that with postage included. ah Um, because most of these specifically vault, but other board gaming stores have like, um, contracts with Australia posts. So they're not paying the same prices that you and I would be. yeah So maybe I could just be like, okay, I'll order endeavor deep sea this month shows up on my doorstep and then i send it back and away we go.
00:51:00
Speaker
And yeah, so was basically just posing those two ideas to the boys to discuss. It's fair to say, ah i think Ignacy acknowledged the first ah question and said that that's he's seen places where that's worked.
00:51:16
Speaker
um And all of them kind of categorically thought that the second option wasn't great, um which I understand because the whole point is to try and bring people into the community. But the first option, though, I'd like to hear your thoughts because It is something that I kind of feel bad these days when I go to Vault and I just walk in and I i ah either pay $10 or i I'm probably buying a game anyway.
00:51:42
Speaker
So I feel obliged to buy drinks from there. but And I don't mean this is a slight against Vault Games, but they don't necessarily have a great selection of drinks and food. So it's almost like they're not even encouraging you to do that.
00:51:55
Speaker
No. So, but I feel bad. Like I'm giving you basically no money to borrow this space for an entire day or half a day or whatever. So, yeah, I'm interested to hear your thoughts.
00:52:06
Speaker
No, because I love ah love that you posed that question because um it's something I've been toying with, you know, personally because um I've come from a retail background, right? So, you know, prior to me heading into the banking world, I sold shoes.
00:52:24
Speaker
So I know about service and I know about customer service. And I think that's what's lacking in all ballgame stores is customer service. It's just greeting the customer.
00:52:35
Speaker
How can I help you? What are we going to do Knowing your product. I get none of that whenever I walk into any ballgame store. um it's It's almost like they're scared that you've walked into the store.
00:52:46
Speaker
Oh, oh, oh, oh, hi. That's the type of response you get versus the old-fashioned customer service that I used to deliver selling shoes.
00:52:57
Speaker
And um that's missing in our board game industry where you are selling the um you are selling the entertainment value of you coming into that store.
00:53:08
Speaker
So what am I offering you when you walk into my store? I've got a stack of board games. And so I love the theory where you're thinking about um you know here's the latest hotness game if you want to sit down and play it i'm going to teach it to you there's no cost right it could be a ten dollar cost right but even still i'll give you ten dollars off if you if you leave with buying this ball game the end of it you know you're you're you're not losing out or winning out either way because you're still selling that ball game to that person so i love that theory um the i think the
00:53:43
Speaker
the ballgame store that does it the best that I've experienced so far. So I've been into, I go to Tactics in Perth. um I've been into all the ballgame stores in Adelaide, all the ballgame stores in Brisbane, apart from More Than Meeple, so I thought they were just online only.
00:53:58
Speaker
um And I've been into Vault Games many times. And Dice Spot in Adelaide is brilliant.
00:54:11
Speaker
They... Welcome you in, you book a table, and i talked about this in the previous episode, and you scan in and you book how many people are going to be playing.
00:54:25
Speaker
There's a cost for if you're going to bring your own ballgames, and then there's a cost if you want to access a the library at the time you're in there. You're not in there for an allocated time. You can stay there the whole night until they close, but you just pay for each seat that's going to be coming.
00:54:40
Speaker
They've got a good food menu and they've got a good drinks menu and the people are engaging. So when you walk up to the bar, they're chatting to you, they're engaging with you. What type of ballgames do you like um and how can I help you?
00:54:54
Speaker
They'll walk up to your table and they'll they'll look at the game you're playing. Just the customer service in that dice spot in South Australia far outweighs anything any ballgame store I've been into.
00:55:08
Speaker
And so i think Coming from the sales and retail background, the store that nails customer service the best is going to win out in the ballgame industry because even, even um oh, what's that store?
00:55:25
Speaker
Game Traders at Champs Ike. right? They're all sitting behind the counter. Everyone's sitting behind the counter. No one's walking the floor, engaging with people. Just out from behind the counter. also retail background as well. And it frustrates me so much when you've spent all that time learning about the first seven feet in the store, you know, introducing yourself, letting people know that you're there, not necessarily in their face, but letting them know that you're there and you're there for them.
00:55:53
Speaker
yeah, and It's the thing that frustrates me about it and specifically speaking about um places like Fault, but also other places is that I find it it is terribly worker specific.
00:56:06
Speaker
Some days you can walk in a vault and you'll get someone who will just treat you like an absolute, like you're you're the most important person in the room. And they'll they'll ask you loads of questions. I'll help you out. They'll look you. And then the next day you walk in there because you're told your mate about it and you go, come down to vault games. just put And then you get someone who just, because you're either not interested in what they're interested in, or they're just not interested in you at all.
00:56:31
Speaker
You just sort of go, what? and and And I know you and I, in this at the same time have walked into Vault, done the loop and walked out and both been like, wow, we didn't even get acknowledged. Like yeah nothing at all.
00:56:44
Speaker
And I hate to rag on Vault, but I've had that happen at Vault. I also had it. The first, my first in brick and mortar board game store experience um with, with, some wicked goblin was amazing the guy i was tossing up between rising sun and lords of water deep and he came over and asked me and loads of questions he's like you want to go lords of water deep leave rising sun for now this is where you're at and um and i remembered that and then not long after that i went away to sydney with uh my wife and we went to a just a random good games and this guy just was like you want me to teach you how to play dice throne
00:57:22
Speaker
I'm like, yeah, righto. So he sat down and he taught us the whole game. And we're having a great time, bought a few drinks and whatever else. And then I went up and said, can we buy it? And he's like, oh, we don't have it in stock. I'm like, you just spent all that time teaching me this game and you can't sell me because you care about the you care about the hobby.
00:57:38
Speaker
yeah And I was like, how cool is that? And again, we went back to that same store the next day. He wasn't working and it was like we didn't deserve to be there. You know, just two different staff members and two totally different experiences. So from ah from from you and I who have had ah backgrounds in – in retail and sales, it's all about consistency. like You can't just, you can't put it down to someone hopefully being good.
00:58:05
Speaker
um And I guess maybe a hobby doesn't, a hobby brings out those people a little bit, like, People who want to work in these stores and quite often are introverted or very centric into what they love.
00:58:18
Speaker
So they're not interested in finding out about what the store does. yeah I always go back. i used to work in Sanity when I was very young and I could sell a Britney Spears CD as well as I could sell a tool CD.
00:58:30
Speaker
And I can't stand Britney Spears, but the customer doesn't need to know that. I can i can give you all the benefits you want about a Britney Spears album. doesn't mean I have to like it, you know? and and and And I feel like sometimes when you go into these hobby stores, it's very much, oh, you want to talk about board games? Oh, well, um I only care about Warhammer or I'm only interested in magic.
00:58:50
Speaker
So I'm not going to deal with you. I'm going to look down on you because that's what you're into you're not into what I'm into kind of thing. And I absolutely get that because, you know, from my retail background, I did eight years selling shoes where i could sell ah could sell a pair of Grosby slippers all the way to a pair of Dyna Ferrari ah high heels to a pair of hush puppy walkers to a nurse and it would just be the same same. They'd still get that same customer service from me. They'd walk into my store and you're right, that first seven steps that customer takes in your store is where you have to engage.
00:59:25
Speaker
And when when i went when i'm in a certain store, I'm not going to name it, and you hear, hi, how are you? How can I help you? As you're walking down steps, And then you hear the next person walking down steps, hi, how are you? How can I help you?
00:59:40
Speaker
Next person, hi, how are you? It's just it's so disingenuous. You don't want to help me. you'll just You're in robotic mode. and um But they're still hiding behind the counter.
00:59:51
Speaker
Get away from the counter. Get out. Walk the floor with you. And so I think for me, the board game store that does that is going to be so successful.
01:00:02
Speaker
And grab that customer. And you have you don't have one or two workers there. You have three or four workers there where that person can go off and teach a game if that customer has time.
01:00:14
Speaker
Hey, I'd love to learn Flip 7. Hey, I'll quickly come over here. We've got 15 minutes. Let's quickly learn it now. And I know when I was in Adelaide, and I spoke about this in the podcast, I sold a copy of Flip 7 in El Paso in a board game store.
01:00:28
Speaker
yeah And i'm ah I'm not the salesperson. Yeah, I do it all the time. i can't help myself. But I love it. see someone look at its shelves, you're like, oh, yeah, that's a really good one. It does this, that, and the other. yes like Yeah.
01:00:39
Speaker
It's just that that is gone nowadays. And I think that is missing from a lot of, it's not just ballgame stores. It's a lot of retail. You know, you can walk into Mize, you can walk and into your bigger stores, and they're all hiding behind the counter. They're not trying to engage with anyone on the floor.
01:00:55
Speaker
I always, the best example of that, we're going a bit off topic here, but the best example of that is when I walk into a women's clothing store and they treat you like you're not supposed to be there. I'm there for one reason.
01:01:06
Speaker
And it ain't for me. I am the easiest sale they're going to get all day. Yeah. Because I don't know what I'm looking for. I'm definitely going to buy something if they, if they show me something and say, Oh, I'll try this or even a voucher, something they're going to get money out of me.
01:01:20
Speaker
I'm not going to waste my time walking in that store if I'm not prepared to spend money. Yeah. but But most of the time they treat you like you shouldn't be there because you're a male and a female shopping. Like I'd be all over that person if I was working in that store.
01:01:31
Speaker
Yeah. Because I could probably get them to walk out of there with $300 worth of clothes in a bag because clearly they're there to buy for somebody else. Easy say. Yeah. It's just. That's a bit off topic, but yeah. I know. But for me, mate, coming back to the original topic, how can ballgame stores survive?
01:01:49
Speaker
Just nail customer service. You nail that. It's your point of difference. You nail that with teaching people board games while they're in your store, capturing there you know capturing their while they're in there and and you know really engage with them.
01:02:09
Speaker
you know when i When I'm sitting there, when i when I sold those two games in Adelaide, I'm sitting there having conversations with these these two people that were in there, two totally different people. One was looking for a party game. that was you know because they were going to a party on the weekend, not much to do with ballgaming, flip seven.
01:02:25
Speaker
It was instant. The other one was looking for more of a solo game and was a similar type of solo He was looking at grace Great Western Trail. I said, don't go just there yet, go here first.
01:02:37
Speaker
I had El Paso sitting there. and um And, you know, it was just, if if any ballgame stalker nail that customer service piece, mate, they'll be successful.
01:02:50
Speaker
um and And more than meeples do it and 2D6 used to do it as well with you know delivering all around Brisbane. That's customer service and um yeah yeah it is totally missing in these bricks and mortar stores right now.
01:03:04
Speaker
and and And you're happy to pay for good customer service. And I don't care what anyone says. Price does not come into it when there's good customer service. Because we all know we can get these things cheaper online, but we walk into those stores not to peruse and then go and buy online, which I have done because I've just been so disappointed with the service that I've gone, well, I'll just, why would i spend $20? Like, where's going here?
01:03:27
Speaker
I'm doing all the work, you know what i mean? um But if someone is at least half genuine, then they're getting my money and I'm fine with that. Yeah. i to talk to your point about how a store can be more engaging, you talked about if you've got the staff to teach a game.
01:03:46
Speaker
I think about how we are at board gaming events and, you know, just the other week at this, the one I ran in the library, but also I've seen you do it at board gaming events.
01:03:57
Speaker
You've seen me do it where if I'm in a store and someone's asking about Flip 7 and there's three other people in the store, I would just announce, I just say, Hey everyone, I'm about to teach a game of flip seven. Do you want to join in and learn how to play the game?
01:04:12
Speaker
Like if I was in a store and someone said that I'd be like, Oh yeah, I'll give that a bash. Yeah. And I might sell four copies of flip seven, but yeah, just having that idea of, hang on, everyone loves this hobby.
01:04:24
Speaker
Why don't I include everybody rather than maybe just this one person or maybe not even this one person. I'm just going to let them look and leave them be. Yeah. i And I think that's what Ignacy said. where He was basically saying that you need to provide the entertainment when people walk into your store. You You're not a storefront.
01:04:41
Speaker
You're an entertainment location. yeah You're not sitting behind the counter and just rattling off like a robot. How can I help you today? Or, hello, how are you? How can I help you today?
01:04:53
Speaker
Well, I'm just walking down your steps. You can't help me yet type of thing. and um And then not engage at all when you're in the store. and So, um and look, you know, I did eight years of customer service and I'm still in customer service nowadays, right, in a different realm.
01:05:13
Speaker
And I've pretty much, you could say I've done 30 years of customer service. And um for me, it's all about the customer, making sure the customer's happy and engaged with you.
01:05:25
Speaker
You'll bring them back. And so, you know, it's... whilst I did sell shoes for eight years, that's what got me into banking. Yeah. i'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure I told you this story.
01:05:39
Speaker
but Well, actually, but I didn't know there was a story. were just saying in general because of how you perceive. No, no. It was a banking executive that I'd served for years and years and years with his family, selling him school shoes, selling him sandals, selling him whatever they wanted, they needed.
01:05:54
Speaker
One day he just said to me, Shane, you need to come into banking. I'm an executive at this bank. come along and interview, you know, and come into banking. So I applied as a teller to get into this bank and off my career went in customer service.
01:06:12
Speaker
So, you know, it was because of my eight years of customer service and serving this customer over many years and his whole family, he went, your customer service is so good. I want you in banking.
01:06:24
Speaker
So it's funny because i do IT t and I've been in IT tea for a while. i don't love it, but it's been a job that i've I'm good at. Um, and I attribute why people like me in it to customer service, because the way I look at it is it is this is in a similar way.
01:06:42
Speaker
People don't like talking to it people because they jargon things up and they or they they spend more time looking for whose fault it is rather than solving a problem. And I just go into it with that features and benefits. Like yeah that's, that's what I used to learn as a, as a salesperson, like,
01:06:57
Speaker
yeah If I'm introducing a new product, why is this good for you? How's it going to save you time? Why do you want this? If you've got a problem to solve, okay, here's how to solve the but also here's how to stop it from happening again. Now you understand it more. Teach and learn, teach and learn. And people love that because they don't get made to feel like an idiot and in the end they walk away from an experience knowing something they didn't know before or understanding something better. And it blows my mind...
01:07:27
Speaker
Like customer service to me has been part of my life since I was 13 working in my dad's bakery. Yeah. But it blows my mind how so many people miss the mark. um and And unfortunately, yes, in board games, it's it's it's pretty common.
01:07:44
Speaker
and And like i said before, it sometimes it can really just come down to who's working that shift that day. Yeah, correct. Correct. So... No, it's a good it's a good discussion, mate. I thank you for posing that question because, you know, it's often, it it kind of does my head in when I walk into some ballgame stores and you're not even being engaged by anyone in that store.
Customer Service in Gaming Industry
01:08:03
Speaker
um And for me, customer service is at the heart of everything we do. We should be doing. Yeah. sir yeah. Well, there we go.
01:08:14
Speaker
Good discussion. we should We should open a board game store. I think that's what we've established there. We should open, mate, let's play. lauren Lauren's at me constantly. She's always at me saying, you need to open up your own board game store.
01:08:25
Speaker
And, you know, who knows? One day, may happen. Oh, we've got the perfect name. We've got it all set up. we get it We have a little podcast booth out the back. On Friday night, we do podcasts while we have games going.
01:08:37
Speaker
ah Yeah. And customer service is number one. and Number one. Have that out the wazoo. At least listen to us talk ourselves up.
01:08:49
Speaker
but I know. I know. I'm sure there'll be listeners going, you guys don't know what the talk you're talking about. But you know what? I think we do. like we've Both of us have had significant years in the industry and um in in what is a retail industry, that is.
01:09:03
Speaker
And you know we know that customer service is number one, no matter what. And even in like the board gaming industry, since I've been involved from on a level rather than just playing, so basically since I've been podcasting with the Board Game Barbecue and then with the Chinwag and now with us.
01:09:19
Speaker
um In that time, I've dealt with VR ah distribution and I've dealt with Let's Play Games. And Brita is a standout compared to everyone else I've dealt with because she gets it.
01:09:30
Speaker
and And so at any level, it makes a difference. It does. If you understand that customer service, then you're away. And we had, I won't mention names, but the person, don't if it was right before Brita, but previous to Brita at some point was quite a famous board gaming personality.
01:09:48
Speaker
Yes. and was horrible at that job. Yep. Because it was more about her than it was about the product, and it doesn't work.
Community Engagement in Board Gaming
01:09:56
Speaker
Yeah, no. It's more about engaging the community in this in this fantastic hobby, so or in anything that we sell.
01:10:06
Speaker
um And um I've always thought to myself as being a connector for the community, no matter what I do. So how can I connect this person? If someone wants something, how can I connect this person to that to get their want?
01:10:18
Speaker
Yeah. Yep. Good chat. Good chat, mate. Thank you for that. We should start another podcast, The Philosophy of Sales. Of retail. Of retail. Retail sales. Ted Talk and retail sales.
01:10:34
Speaker
What's this space? What's this space? All good, mate. Well, have a great weekend. I hope but hope you get some time to get to the table. Well, um I've got Steam Power sitting here, so I'm hopeful that we may get a three-player game going tomorrow.
01:10:48
Speaker
Oh, I didn't even mention. we played five-player game of Steam Power with my family. Oh. And they all liked it. Like, I wouldn't say they loved it, but they liked it. And I was just like, okay. And Heidi was making, I always go with Heidi because she's my least board gamer-y person in the family.
01:11:04
Speaker
But she was like thinking through her turns, working out how she can get contracts filled and getting angry at people using her line and taking her goods and all that. I'm like, that's it. This is great.
01:11:14
Speaker
So, yes. That is great. That is great. i've got I've got a strategy i'm gonna I want to use one day. So I'll let you know when I use that strategy and if it worked out or not. Fair enough. Because ah what was this what there was a strategy I did the other day I was playing the game.
01:11:29
Speaker
God completely ballsed it up. I think it was a game with Ingrid and Shane. But anyway, it didn't work. Is the strategy just always placing um towers down? Are they towers? ah be Like for the for the goods?
01:11:45
Speaker
ah building Yeah, buildings are good. Yeah, don't lay track. Just put but physical buildings to Everyone else's line. don't Don't lay track. Just put buildings down. thats That is the strategy I want to
Strategic Game Discussions and Farewell
01:11:54
Speaker
do. Yeah, right. But it was a game we played. It would have been, I've got to look at the list of games we played because there was this strategy. Oh, it was Raiders.
01:12:03
Speaker
yeah I just went Valkyrie the whole lot. just went... Yeah. Killed it. Killed all of my Raiders and my Vikings. And there was one... but i just kept having to reveal my team.
01:12:14
Speaker
Do not go down the Valkyrie track. It doesn't work. Fair call. Well, on that note, don't die and you'll be successful.
01:12:25
Speaker
Yeah. Whatever. Thanks again. Have a great weekend and we'll keep chatting again soon. All right. Take mate. Cheers.