Adam and comedian/board game influencer Grant Lyon discuss a documentary that delves into the burgeoning board game industry and the community behind it.
Episode Transcript
Adam: [00:00:00] Hey everybody. Welcome to you don’t even like documentaries, a podcast about cars. Just joking. It’s about documentaries dummy. I am your host, Adam Tod Brown. Joining me this week, comedian and board game influencer Grant Lyon. How’s it going, man?
Grant: Yeah. Good, good. I know it’s weird to say that now. I was just a comedian for so long and then now all of a sudden there’s this weird board game thing on the end of it.
Adam: It’s taken on new life.
Grant: Yeah.
Adam: It is, appropriate that you’re here because we’re covering a documentary that you are in
Grant: Yes, that’s true.
Adam: It’s called the Hobby Tales from the Tabletop. It is a documentary about not just board game industry, but the hobby, the pursuit, the people who engage in it. Fantastic documentary.
I loved it. I’ve watched it twice. Normally on this show, we kind of go through. The documentary’s beat by beat, but I think this doesn’t really lend itself to that because it’s more [00:01:00] profiling a bunch of different individual people and their stories. So instead of hitting on every beat, I’m just gonna pepper you with questions
Grant: Okay,
Adam: your experience in the hobby and whatnot.
First up, you’re one of the very first faces we see in this. How did you, get involved in the documentary?
Grant: So, you know, they had been working on this documentary for years as any documentary, and you know, they had already sort of picked their personalities to follow. Throughout they, they’d already been following those other people for years and then they kind of put out a call at some of the conventions for, Hey would some other people involved in the board game industry, would you be willing to come be on camera at a convention and sort of just talk about your experience with, you know, that particular convention with the hobby in general, your opinions on it.
And so I [00:02:00] think I did it at like two different. Conventions. I sat down with them and you know, they just threw a lot of different questions about the board game hobby at, me, about what I loved about it, about what I was frustrated about it, about my place in it, about where I saw the hobby going, all of that sort of stuff.
And, you know, you just record a lot of different things and then they pull out moments that they love. And so, yeah, that was from, you know, they pulled out multiple moments from one of the interviews that I did with them.
Adam: Yeah, you can tell your interviews happening at a convention of some sort. Conventions are normally my nightmare ’cause I’m not a crowds guy.
Grant: Well, and that convention in particular is the US’ largest board game convention. And I think that’s something I say to people all the time, and one of the ways that this documentary opens up is just sort of like, Hey, the world of board games is a lot larger than you realize,
Adam: Yeah, that that [00:03:00] crowd in that early shot is nuts.
Grant: Yeah, that’s about 75,000 people at that convention in Indianapolis. And the wildest thing about that is that is dwarfed by the largest convention in the world. The largest board game convention in the world is in Germany and has about 200,000 people attending it.
Adam: That is a lot, but then
Grant: it
Adam: they get inside and it looks like there’s so much space. Everyone’s just sitting at their own tables and things. I do like that part a
Grant: yeah, for sure.
Adam: Are there a lot of board game conventions? Do you attend a lot of them? Do You
Grant: Yeah, I do actually attend a lot. I think I went to like 18 last year. I was counting. And part of that is because, you know, my. Background in standup. I wrote a whole hour of standup about board games and about the board game world. And so I get hired by a lot of conventions to go [00:04:00] do the show at the conventions and stuff.
Adam: That makes sense.
Grant: Yeah, it’s, you know, it’s doing standup, but just doing it to a specific audience. and so when I tell people about board game conventions in my mind there are sort of three buckets of convention. There are the big consumer conventions. So what you saw in that documentary is called GenCon, and that is the largest consumer.
Convention in the United States, so you’re not actually sitting down and playing games that much. You can occasionally, but you are mostly going around to the booths, seeing what different people are releasing. All these companies are launching new products there. It’s your first chance to buy some of this stuff.
So it’s, that consumer convention where you’re. You. You know, people literally buy, bring wagons and buy a bunch of games and then fill up a wagon to scoot around with all of the games that they bought. So there’s only [00:05:00] a few of those big consumer conventions. Then we go down to like regional conventions and there are a lot more of those.
And the regional conventions are the more like. You know, 2000 to 8,000 people, something like that. Still a lot of people, but not as wild as those biggest consumer conventions. And those conventions often do have an exhibit hall where you can buy some stuff, but they’re also largely focused on. Playing games, whereas at that bigger one, you’re not really playing that much.
This one, it’s like you’re playing and then maybe occasionally you’ll go check out some of the other stuff that’s coming out, but you can sign up for games, you can sign up to get taught games by different people. You can just do a bunch of events. And then we go down from that. And then there are like small local conventions and there are literally hundreds of these.
And they might be as small as a hundred people and maybe as big as a thousand people. [00:06:00] But they are like, you know the big consumer conventions, people are literally traveling all over the world for ’em. And then the, you know, regional conventions, people are traveling maybe across state lines, but you’re not, you know, this is in Illinois and I’m coming from Michigan to go to this convention in Illinois.
And then the local conventions are really just people from the town right there, or maybe a couple towns over.
Adam: Yeah. This, it’s a way bigger community than I
imagined.
Grant: yeah. I mean, in the US alone there are literally hundreds of board game convention, so Yeah.
Adam: Even before that moment in the documentary, the very first thing we see is an interview with an old British dude. Seems like he’s maybe 110 to 115 years old.
Grant: He’s my favorite guy ever. ’cause he’s just such like a curmudgeon.
Adam: Yeah, I like him, but I was also kind of annoyed [00:07:00] by the way he implied that like, well, if this game wasn’t drawn on a cave by our ancestors,
Grant: Yeah. Well, and that’s the thing. He is legitimately one of the foremost people in ancient game. He knows more about ancient games than, you know, from like Assyria and from, you know, different sort of. You know, former empires, he can tell you all about those and then you put a modern game in front of him and he is like, this is the worst thing I can imagine.
Adam: I just can’t picture that. There’s a point in history where games just stop being fun. I
Grant: Yeah, for
Adam: I did not connect with him in that way. are there any sort of cultural divides like that in the hobby though? Like games from one era are considered superior to games from another era, anything like that?
Grant: Yes. I think that a lot of modern hobby board gamers are a little bit elitist [00:08:00] when it comes to the more popular games from the last era. Like you could not pay most modern hobby board gamers. To play Monopoly or to play risk or games like that, that kind of we all know and grew up with. There was a shift in the board game world where, you know, a lot of those sort of games that we all know are fairly luck based games, right.
Monopoly comes down to the dice. It comes down to what you land on. It’s not, you know, yes there is some decisions, but there’s a lot of luck involved, and then around the nineties. The world of board games started shifting more towards like decision strategy. This is your choices matter and most hobby board gamers look down on those sort of more luck based games from long ago.
Yeah.
Adam: Where do you stand
Grant: [00:09:00] I like to be as welcoming as possible. I love the board game world and I want people to be in it no matter how they can be in it. So where I stand is, hey, if you love Monopoly, that’s awesome. I’m so glad you found a game that you love. I would love to give you some more suggestions to try some different games.
I’m gonna try to use. The thing that, you know, to sort of transition you into games that I think are better, I’m never going to tell you like don’t play Monopoly. Like if you wanna play monopoly, play Monopoly, I do think there are games that are better than Monopoly and so I would be happy to help you find those games,
you know?
Adam: that makes sense. That’s a healthy attitude
Grant: Yeah. And I’ll even tell you like when people are like I love Monopoly. I’m like, Ooh, you should try Monopoly deal. Have you ever heard of Monopoly deal? Monopoly deal? I think one of the downsides of Monopoly to a lot [00:10:00] of people is the game takes too long and it ends with people being mad.
I think a lot of us have had that experience. Monopoly. Well, monopoly deal boils the game down to just a card version, and it essentially takes 20 to 30 minutes to play and you’re still collecting sets of properties and you’re still charging people rent, and you’re still doing stuff like that. But it is a way faster, and I think it’s a more fun version of the game.
So I’ll even start with that recommendation for people,
Adam: Yeah, I was gonna say the big drawback of Monopoly, it takes too long.
Grant: Yeah,
Adam: that seems like that solves the problem.
Grant: Yeah, exactly.
Adam: Board games versus tabletop games, are those interchangeable terms or do people get mad if you call something a board game when it’s supposed to be a tabletop
Grant: Dumb people get mad. yes. I don’t care. Like, again, to me, this, any hobby should be what you want it to be. I’m a firm believer in that, not just, if you are into knitting, then do [00:11:00] knitting how you want to do it. Don’t let other people tell you how knitting is supposed to be. And so, yes, I oftentimes. We’ll just say the word board games to mean card games, or to mean role playing games.
And I will always hear it from people on the internet, like, um, that’s not a board game, that’s a tabletop game. And I’m like, get bent. You know
Adam: Yeah.
Grant: Who cares? So yes, there are people that will let you know that you are saying it wrong, but also those people aren’t in charge and don’t give them any oxygen.
And so technically tabletop game is the all encompassing term, right? Tabletop game includes role playing games and card games and tradable card games and board games, but it’s not that big of a deal.
Adam: that makes sense.
Grant: You.
Adam: Yeah, that feels like a thing you’re gonna find in any
Grant: Sure. And [00:12:00] I think with any hobby, there are people in it that take themselves too seriously. And
I think, I don’t think that’s a hobby thing, I think that’s a people thing, right? in any situation, you’re gonna find people that take themselves too seriously. And so I just try to not like worry about that that much.
Adam: One of the questions that’s asked of several people in this documentary is what got you into the hobby, but they don’t ask you that, so I will. What got you into the hobby? Was there a particular game that was a tipping point for you or
just.
Grant: Yeah, totally. Well I’ll tell you. So, you know, I was a, I was in a family that played games growing up, but you know, the classic sort of games and often a lot of card games. So we played like, you know, Egyptian ran crew or rummy or stuff like that growing up. And then I got into Magic, the gathering when I was.
10, 11 years old and I had like three or four [00:13:00] years where I was playing magic with my friends a bunch. But then I got into like high school and started doing, I probably stopped playing. I honestly probably haven’t played Magic, the gathering since I was like 14 years old. Just ’cause I got into sports and girls and stuff like that.
And in like around like 2015, you might know the comedian, the great comedian Shane Moss. And Shane started hosting game Nights. He is into board games and he started hosting game nights and inviting other comedians, and it was just really, really fun. That was also around the time that I turned 30, and I think that I was like, man, I don’t want to just stand around in bars all the time.
And so the game night was like, Hey, this is an opportunity to hang with my friends, to have a beer. In a different environment, and I think I just really responded to that. And so some of the games that I was playing. Around that time were games like code [00:14:00] names or telestration or cash and guns games that are like lighter and sillier.
And then Shane started, you know, bringing some strategy games around and stuff like that. Well, at that time. I was not living with them. And then I went through a breakup and I ended up moving in with Shane and Dave Waite who I know you’ve had on here before. and then Shane moved out like six months later and he left us a bunch of his board games.
And Dave and I were like, man, we really like those monthly game nights and we don’t want ’em to stop. So what if we kept co-hosting game nights? So then Shane like, you know, got our collection started, he moved away and probably left us 30 games or something like that. And then Dave and I started doing this thing where we would host monthly game nights ourselves.
And every time we were hosting game night. We would go to a game store that day and like buy a new game for game [00:15:00] night. And then we’d play some stuff we loved and then we’d play some of the things that we, you know that we just bought. and then, you know, through that. And then I had a another buddy who was like, Hey man, I have some games that are in stores.
Would you be interested in working on games? I know you like games. And I was like, oh, sure. I guess I never thought about doing that. And so we started working on games and so then I started doing conventions in like 2018. I started going to some conventions, pitching the game that I was creating, checking out the world of board games.
But all of this was mostly just for fun. It was never anything I did professionally. And then during the pandemic, when. All of our tour dates and all of our shows got canceled. You know, I live with other comedians and we were just every single day playing the board games we had, ’cause we didn’t know what else to do.
And so we were just playing board games and I’m somebody that like isn’t very good [00:16:00] at sitting around like, I need a creative outlet. And so I was like, man, I really think these board games are like, kind of, you know, to be hyperbolic. I was like, I think these board games are like saving my life right now.
Like, I, don’t know what I would be doing with myself, and this is like bringing me joy and helping me get through this tough time. But a lot of the people, a lot of my friends don’t know anything about board games, so I’m gonna start making videos. About the board games that we’re playing just for my friends.
I honestly started making videos just to help my friends find board games during the pandemic kind of thinking like, oh, I’ll do this for three months and then the world will be back to normal and I won’t do it anymore. And then obviously it took a long, long time for the world to get back to normal if we have even gotten there yet. and then the videos just kept growing more and more in a way that I didn’t expect. And I, and they found a real [00:17:00] audience. And so it, it just sort of brought me into the world even more and more.
Adam: One of the questions I had kind of speaks to something you just mentioned. someone says in this documentary that they think everyone has a game in them, and I was gonna ask if you have. Ever worked on creating your own game? It sounds like you have. Talk about that a little
Grant: Yeah. Yeah. So I actually have two games that are published right now that are out there in the world. And another three that are signed
that will be one, will be coming out this year, and then the other two will probably be 20, 27. It’s usually like a two year, three year period from when they get signed to when they come out.
So yeah, I mean, originally it was just I have a, friend. Who had gotten multiple games into, you know, various game stores and had gotten published. He actually won the men’s award in like. 2009 for a game that he designed. And so he kind of approached me in [00:18:00] like, I don’t know, 20 16, 20 17 being like, would you wanna work on a game?
And as I mentioned, I loved games, but I never thought about working on a game. But you know, that was a moment where I was like, oh, you. If it were me, I don’t even know where to start, but you have done games before so you know where to start. You know the world better than I do. So if, I’m ever gonna do something like this, this would be the time to do it.
And so then we started working on that game. Got that game signed in 2019 and it came out in 2020 and then we started working. That guy and I started working on other games as well. And you know, it’s like any creative thing where you keep sort of retooling it. You do play testing, you see what people are responding to.
You try to focus the game on the fun moments, cut all the other sort of stuff and just keep retooling it. And then you get to a point where. You’re going around to pitch meetings and [00:19:00] pitching this game to different companies and stuff. And yeah, it’s, you know, I think it’s fairly similar to like the world of book publishing, right?
Where you work on this document and then eventually you send that out to people and then people will get back to you and they’ll either say, I love it, let’s make it, or they’ll say, Hey, I would tweak this. I would tweak that. I would tweak this. And then, yeah. The first game that we came out with is a game called Curmudgeon.
And it is a fine game, but it’s certainly like a first design. You know what I mean? Where if I knew the things I knew now, I would change some things about
that game. Yeah, I mean, I think that’s, you know, a lot of creative stuff, right? You and then my next game is a game called, I’m Kind of a Big Dill, and, I think that game’s really fun.
And that came out like in 2024 towards the end of the year, and it’s done really well. [00:20:00] My first game did not get a reprint. You know, it sort of sold through its first print run and that was it. My second game got a second print run, like sold out of the first print run, has another print run now. So I, that’s really all you can ask for, you
know, so, yeah.
Adam: You mentioned in your interview in the documentary that there’s a board game for everything, and you mentioned pickleball, which is my nightmare. As a tennis fan, what is the craziest game you’ve ever played?
Grant: Oh man. I mean, legitimately I do feel like there is a board game for every sort of, like, there’s a game about knitting sock, you know what I mean? Like there is legitimately a game called Arch Ravels about, yeah. But I, you know, the, then. Like I played this insane game recently called Trombone Champ, which is a video game, apparently it’s like an indie video [00:21:00] game.
And then they made a card game out of it. And so he pitched me the game at a convention and he goes, okay, so you gotta play. Song cards down. You gotta play note cards down on songs so you can create toots. Like you want to create toots. That’s how you get points is the game is you gotta make toots.
And so everybody’s trying to toot to get points. But if you play a hot dog, you can put a hot dog in someone’s mouth and then they can’t toot because their mouth is full of hot dogs and you can’t toot with your mouth. With hot dogs, but if you play a baboon, they’ll eat the hot dogs and now you can toot again.
And so if you play a baboon, you get rid of the hotdog and you could
Adam: What the hell?
Grant: Yep. And like that was like legitimately a thing where I was like, this is insane and I need to play this.
Adam: Yeah, that sounds fascinating.
Grant: You know? So
there really is like a game. Like I actually, when people ask me for a game recommendation, a lot of times I’ll be like, what are you into?
Like, Just outside of games. What are you into? And I’ll give you a recommendation based on that. Oh, you like hiking? [00:22:00] There’s literally board games about hiking. Oh you like pickleball. There are board games about pickleball now you like tornadoes. Yep. There’s some board game about a tornado, you know?
Yeah.
Adam: I was enamored by the Fitch family who are.
I’m Prominently featured in this. Aside from yourself of course, who are some other board game personalities out there that you would recommend people check out?
Grant: sure. I really like Danny Stand Danielle, Danny Stand who has a similar vibe to me in the sense that like, it’s fun first, but it’s also informational. So she is somebody that I would check out on. On like TikTok or Instagram there’s a content creator who goes by the name Easy Kat, E-Z-E-E-K-A-T.
And he does both book and board game [00:23:00] content. And he’s really personable as well. There’s a channel called Watch It Played, you know, a lot of people’s, biggest barrier to playing board games is having to learn board game, right? And there’s a channel called Watch It Played, and he does an amazing job of teaching you how to play game.
So if you ever get a game and you open a rule book and you’re like, no, thank you. See if this guy has a video, because you can watch a 20 minute video and go, oh, I get exactly how to play this game. I’ll also give you one other recommendation. I’m actually part of another YouTube channel as well called Game Night Picks.
And the whole idea of, it’s sort of an entertainment morning show about the world of board game. So you don’t have to know board games to know it, but it’s fun sort of stuff. It’s like. We’re gonna blind rank the most annoying type of board gamers. Then we have to blind. [00:24:00] So we’re making fun videos.
They’re like 15 minute episodes you can watch three days a week. Called Game Night Pick. Yeah. Yeah.
Adam: Is, do you think you, this is an asshole question.
Grant: I’m okay with asshole questions.
Adam: you think you making headway as a board game influencer is why Dave Waite is opening trading cards on Instagram now?
Grant: Yeah, it might be. Well, you know, Dave is the guy in the house that I live with that is. I’m lucky that all of my roommates like games and are all willing to play games, but Dave is like the one that is probably the most down and the most available to play games. And then we had a new roommate move in like a year, a year and a half ago.
Who was really into baseball cards. Ryan Singer is his name, and he has been a guy that’s been into baseball cards for a long time. And they were, you know, I think they have seen [00:25:00] how me having this niche has helped grow. My own brand and my own self. And so they wanted to do a fun, creative thing as well.
And Ryan’s a guy that loved, you know, ripping baseball card packs. And so then they just sort of created this whole series attack the wax where they can, you know, they’re opening random cereal box cards and stuff like that. It’s fun
though. They do a good job.
Adam: I own exactly one board game, tabletop game. The makers of my favorite phone game, Plague Incorporated, made a tabletop version and were nice enough to send me a copy for free. And that was like eight years ago and I haven’t played it once.
Grant: Yep. That sounds pretty common.
Adam: have you ever played it? Should I try it?
Grant: I have never played it. That is a game. I do, I am not aware of. I don’t know anything about that game. Let’s see, what’s it called?
Adam: called Plague Incorporated. So you haven’t played the phone version either?[00:26:00]
Oh, it is very fun. You play as a virus and your objective is to destroy humanity.
Grant: Well, I will tell you, so there is a website, oh, it’s designed by James Vaughn. I know who this designer is. He’s a buddy of mine. yeah. He, so this I just looked up. There’s a website if you ever wanna look up a game. There’s a website called Board Game Geek, and it basically is the conglomeration of all the information about all the games out there.
So I just put plague ink the board game into BGG. I will tell you, there are something like 150,000 games listed on this and Plague Inc. Is ranked as the 1447th best game, which might not sound that good, but that is very high. For like, if you are in the top 5,000, you’re like doing pretty well.
You know what I mean? And I also think [00:27:00] that there are, then they give it a ranking from like up to 10, and I think anything with a seven or above is pretty good. Like anything seven or above, I’m willing to check out. Plague Inc is ranked at a 7.4
right now, so I would say yes, you should play it based on this information.
Adam: I think I will. It’s a fantastic phone game. You should try it
Grant: Nice. Okay,
Adam: I, even kept it through, COVID. They changed it during COVID to where you could also play as the cure. But
Grant: sure.
Adam: me. Not for me. You just mentioned board Game Geek watching the board game Geek Girl play war games with a bunch of elderly veterans.
In this documentary was. That was heartwarming as fuck.
what’s your stance on war games? It seems like those, if anything, would be extremely My shit.
Grant: there are a lot of them and it is a world that doesn’t cross over that much. So I [00:28:00] have had fun playing them. So my stance is that’s cool that they exist, but I don’t oftentimes play them. Not for real. Any reason except for. It almost feels like a separate hobby like that is it’s such a niche within the niche that it really does feel like almost this separate hobby.
You know, a lot of them really follow real historical events. So, you know you’re doing the Battle of the Bulge and one player’s playing as the Allied forces and one player’s playing as the Axis forces and stuff like that. So if you like history stuff, war games are great for that. You also need to be okay with war games oftentimes have these subtle rules that I get bogged down in personally a little bit Sometimes, like for instance, line of sight.
You know, that’s a thing you need to calculate on the where like, oh, there’s a building right [00:29:00] here and I can’t shoot. Through the building to get to you. So I gotta get to a different vantage point, which logically makes sense, but is also stuff that I don’t want to have to think about in a game.
Adam: Yeah, that sounds like a lot.
Grant: Yeah, and, then you know, the sort of stereotype, and not every war game is this, but the stereotype of war games is like people have rulers to measure how far away stuff is so that they know if you are in range or not and things like that.
Not every war game is like that, and not every war gamer is like that, but there, you know, that is sort of a joke in the board game world.
Adam: I retract what I said. That does not sound like extremely my shit
Grant: Well but I also think there are, you know, there are some really great war games that do a good job of bridging the world between the sort of extremely nerdy board games and like a little bit more mainstream stuff. So for instance, like a game I would [00:30:00] recommend is Memoir 44, where it’s a game that can be played in under an hour or, there’s an a series called Undaunted.
Where it’s a war game, but it’s like a little bit more accessible, you know?
Adam: yeah.
Grant: yeah.
Adam: what are some other types of games and what is your favorite? Do you have a favorite specific type of game?
Grant: Sure. This is not usually a category that is said, but it’s a category. I’m trying to make a thing which is social game. Social games are my. Favorite, I wanna play a game that, you know, is about creating moments with the people at the table that creates memorable, fun things. And the reason I say social games is there’s a category of games we all refer to called party games.
And Party games generally means, you know, high player count. Little rules, easy to, you can teach it to somebody in a [00:31:00] minute or less and you can play it with like eight people. But I think there are also other games that aren’t, party games, that are still social game, you know, that are, maybe they have a little bit more strategy, but they are still have these moments of conversation or arguments.
Like for instance there’s, everybody knows the game, Catan. Well, like Catan is a social game because you have to negotiate with people at the table and those create fun, memorable moments. And so to me, like a social game is, and that could be a strategy, social game or a party game, but just those opportunities to sort of converse and argue at the table.
Adam: Yeah, Yeah, that sounds, those sound very fun.
Grant: Yeah.
Adam: Kind of along those same lines, I could be completely wrong, but just judging from what I saw in this documentary, it seems like this hobby doesn’t necessarily attract the most outgoing or socially confident types. [00:32:00] Like the game designer, they feature who just designs games sitting on his bed initially.
It gives off like really strong, not really loner vibes, but like fiercely independent vibes.
What is it that you think attracts that type of person to a hobby that is ultimately going to involve interacting with a lot of
Grant: Well, I do think having a game at the center of the table takes pressure off of the social interaction because I have an escape. Like it’s not just about conversation. Yes, we can talk. But also I can retreat into the game and into the strategy and stuff. And so I think board games in general help a lot of people with social anxiety.
Be able to do a social event because there is sort of a release valve and a, there’s less pressure. You don’t have to [00:33:00] juggle the conversation. You don’t have to think of the next question to ask. All of those sort of things because you have an activity there at the table. I also think, the board game world has very intentionally tried to be a welcoming world.
You know there is a lot of sort of policing of the hobby in the sense that if you aren’t making people feel welcome, then you are the one that is cast out, not the people that are trying to get into it. And so, yeah, I like that too. And so I, you know. I think a lot of people really try to make all different types of people feel welcome at the table.
I actually have a joke in my sort of board game standup set where that woman, Candace from the Documentary. You [00:34:00] know, I have heard her be asked like, as a black woman in America, do you feel welcome at this sort of stuff? And she’s like, yeah, I’ve always felt like the board game hobby is pretty progressive in that way.
And my point is like, yeah, we don’t care who you are as long as you’ll play a game with us. Like I don’t care what your background is, are you willing to play this game? Because I wanna play this game. And that’s, that is the only judge of whether you are welcome or not, is are you willing to play a game?
Adam: Yeah, I feel like that’s a thing you don’t necessarily see in a lot of communities
like this. And Yeah, and obviously, you know, there are bad eggs in anything, but like overall I do feel like we really try to make people feel welcome and you know, like that’s why I always tell people, like, if you are curious about board games, go to a board game convention because. You’ll be welcomed at so many [00:35:00] tables.
Grant: You will be like someone, you know, I’ve literally seen people just kind of like, Hey, I don’t, you know, they’re kind of standing around, they don’t know what they’re doing and I’ll go outta my way to be like, Hey, are you looking for a game? I’m about to set this up if you wanna play this, you know, and just pulling people in.
Adam: Yeah. That’s awesome.
Okay, last question. The World Series of board games is a big plot point in this documentary. Have you ever entered it? And if not, do you plan to at any point?
Grant: I have been to the World Series of GA, board games as a special guest, and, but I have not competed in the World
Series of Board games because. I know about myself that if we make it, if we put stakes on this, I am going to be a dick. And I do not want to be that. So as like a window into me, you know, I was a college soccer player.
I had a lot of my teammates go play professional soccer and stuff like that, and [00:36:00] so I am a very competitive person. As I have gotten more mature and gotten into other things, I have learned to put that into a box for the enjoyment of both myself and other people. And not just in board games, but just in general.
Like I don’t want to be that guy. We’re allowed to swear on this. Like, okay, so here’s an example. You know, when I was like 24, after I was done playing college soccer, I was playing a pickup soccer game. With people. No refs, no anything like that. I went shoulder to shoulder with another guy. He fell down.
He called a foul, and I, stood over him and I was like, it’s only a foul if you’re a fucking pussy. And I punched him.
Adam: Jesus,
Grant: it’s been a long time since I’ve been that guy. You know what I mean?
Adam: you don’t want
to go back.
Grant: No. Exactly and [00:37:00] I literally, after that, I intentionally, I stopped playing soccer for like six years.
I didn’t touch a soccer ball because I was like, I need to reset my brain. When it like comes to this sort of stuff. And so board games, I have done a good job with myself. And this is not a reflection on anybody else but myself. I think I have done a decent job making it the goal being the experience of the game, the fun that we have together, the interesting, and I’m like, I’m still gonna try, like, I’m still gonna do my best to win.
But I’m not making winning the only goal of it. And if I go do a competitive thing like the World Series of Board games, it will make the winning the only goal, and I will then be a jerk to other people, and I don’t want to do that.
Adam: Well, that makes sense.
Grant: Yeah, that’s a long-winded answer, [00:38:00] but it’s very true.
Adam: Well, grant, thank you so much for doing the pod. Do you have any last words for the people? Where can they find your stuff?
Grant: Well, yeah, the documentary is available on Amazon, so I think they, you know I’m just a small part in it, but I really do think they did a great.
job with it. Like, I think he did a really good job. the director is a Canadian director, Simon Ennis, and he’s really talented. If you wanna find my stuff I go by the name Grants Game, RECS, like recommendations, so you can find me on.
TikTok or Instagram or YouTube making daily videos about good board games out there. So if you’re looking to get into the board game hobby, like I try to make it real accessible and try to help you find the right game for you.
Adam: Nice. So yeah, check all that out everybody. And Grant, thanks again for doing the pod. I really appreciate it.
Grant: Yeah. Thanks for having me. This was fun.
Adam: And [00:39:00] hey, goodbye everybody. We love you.
Grant: Yeah. I’m in love with you.