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Hello, Hola, Guten Tag, Bonjour, こんにちは !
Welcome everyone,
this is a podcast for those wanting to learn about U.S. culture through Standard American English, also known as General American. We talk about various different topics related to the U.S. and the U.S.'s relations with other countries.
My co-host and I would like to think of this as more of a journey because you never know where it’ll take us. Plus, since the journey’s more important than the end or the start, we hope that you’ll be willing to join us!
Let’s see where it takes us!
Hello and welcome.
My name is Christopher Chandler.
And my name is Chris Schauer.
And we are Generally American.
In our podcast, we discuss events,
culture, whatever else we want from a
Generally American perspective.
From our differing viewpoints, our goal is
that we can offer others and ourselves
nuanced opinions on fascinating topics
related to the U .S.
We invite you to be part of the discussion
and we hope that you'll stick around to
see where the conversation takes us.
So let's dive in.
And we're live.
We are.
Hello, everyone.
Hello, hello.
So it's been a while, you know, two weeks,
but still.
Uh, yes, I guess to start off with weather
as usual, the weather here has been
terrible.
I guess it really depends if you like rain
or not, because it's been super rainy
here.
And my wife and I have been kind of
discussing on whether or not it should be
called winter because it really doesn't
feel like it.
I tell everyone here that it feels like
it's just August or not August fall.
So it just feels like a extended fall, if
you will.
Extended autumn.
So it just rains the whole time.
But how about where you've been?
You know, you should count yourself lucky.
At least spring and summer will be nice
for here.
It's been gray and windy, but not
particularly cold.
The the snowfall, not just here, but I
hear.
in most of the country has been really
poor this year, especially up in Canada.
So it sounds like there's going to be.
Summer is usually wildfire season, it's
probably going to be a bad one.
Oh wow.
Yeah, I mean, it's funny because in winter
people complain about there being, at
least here, they complain about there
being a lot of rain, about there being a
lot of rain.
And then come summer there's almost no
rain and people complain that there's no
rain.
So no matter how you cut it, people always
complain.
At least that's just the way I've seen it.
But how far is Canada actually from
Billings, from Montana?
Uh...
Probably like 300 to 350 miles.
I'm not going to lie.
I don't go.
Most of the major like quote unquote
cities in in Montana are like in the in
the south, kind of like along I -90.
And yeah, there's not usually much of a
reason to go up to the to the high line,
the northern border.
What would you consider to be a long trip,
like a long drive?
Like one hour, two hours, three hours.
I mean, it depends.
If I'm staying in town 15 to 20 minutes
kind of feels like a long drive.
If I were like going somewhere, going
somewhere like traveling, probably like.
over three hours is probably a little long
for like a day trip.
Okay.
I'm glad you said that.
So I have like a little story.
So I've been pretty busy.
So my wife, so everyone knows that I had a
daughter.
She was born almost two months now, how
time flies.
And, uh, cause she was born in Germany.
She, oh, she has German citizenship, um,
which is actually not that obvious,
believe it or not.
They changed the law about.
I think two decades ago to where if you're
born in Germany and your parents have
lived here for a while then you get it but
before it was kind of up in the air anyway
to make it short my wife and I had to go
to Frankfurt and we had to go to the
American Consulate and Frankfurt's about
with breaks because we have a baby it was
about four four and a half hours and I
wasn't sure if you know if other people
would consider that to be a long drive.
But it felt pretty long in wind and rain.
Anyway, long story short, we had to go to
the consulate to prove that I'm an
American citizen.
And you have to prove physical presence in
the US.
So the law is if you're an American
citizen and you have a baby abroad, you
have to prove that you've spent at least
five years in the US.
two of which were after your 14th
birthday, which I lived in the US until I
was almost 21.
So I fulfill that.
But then the question is, well, how do you
prove it?
And I used my high school transcripts.
And the lady was like, well, that's
enough.
Technically, it's not enough because it's
only four years, but they didn't really
care.
And at the very end, there was, I wouldn't
even call it a ceremony.
We signed documents saying that, yes, I'm
the father and...
Yes, my wife is the mother.
And we had to, you know, with our we had
to put a hand, not a hand over our heart.
We had to basically put our right hand up
and swear that everything is correct.
And my wife just kind of looked at me and
she's like, why are we swearing?
Like, I already signed it.
Isn't that enough?
And I was like, no, it's not enough.
You got to swear to to make it official.
So, oh, yeah, the U .S.
government loves swearing.
Yeah.
When when I when I joined the Census
Bureau for the 2020 census,
We had a little swearing in ceremony we
had to do basically saying if you talk to
somebody and they disclose personal
information You can't share any of their
information under like very severe
penalties for like 50 years And they were
joking they were joking.
Well, most of you will be dead before that
happens But some of you young guys out
there maybe so did you have to raise your
hand?
Yeah, okay
Yeah, so it was really weird.
I kind of felt at home actually in the
conflict because most people, they were
actually American.
So it was really nice to be able to
actually speak English because otherwise I
just speak German all the time.
But there are a couple of people there who
didn't really speak English very well and
they didn't speak German.
So it was really awkward talking to them
because it was like broken English and
broken German.
They were working there as like clerks or
security guards.
It was...
really, it was really weird.
But yeah, the whole thing took three hours
and it was super expensive.
I think most people who listen to the
podcast who maybe have anything to do with
the US in terms of like getting visas or
traveling know how expensive it is, but I
didn't realize this.
So we had to pay for her for my daughter's
American birth certificate, because she's
going to get American one and that costs a
hundred dollars.
And then to pay for her passport and like
all the fees that was another $150 So the
whole thing just to get her recognized by
the government It was $250 give or take
and for the German side it was I don't
know $40 So it was really expensive and
Hopefully I'll get all the stuff in in the
mail in like six weeks.
Hopefully
Maybe I've just been spending too much
money lately, but that doesn't sound
horrible.
Like it's nobody's ever happy about
spending $250, but.
I mean, it was, it kind of hurt.
I'm not gonna lie.
Not, not financially.
I mean, for us, like that's not, I mean,
it's not nothing, but it's not the end of
the world, but you know, right.
Nobody wants to do that.
Yeah.
Yeah.
So, and, uh, yeah.
Newborns need passports.
So.
technically my daughter's not a newborn
anymore, I think they're only newborns for
a month, but they need passports.
And then the question was like, what, uh,
like what should we put down for the eye
color?
Because like the eye color changes all the
time.
Uh, and so, uh, technically everyone puts
down blue.
I think that's like the general for
babies.
And then it changes like to different
colors.
Anyway, that's a small excursion.
I just wanted to share that.
That's not the topic for today.
It's interesting though.
Yeah, I mean, it's super interesting.
But because to be honest, the way I it's
not really something I think about, but.
Just from life in movies and TV shows and
everything, it just feels like, oh, if
your parents are an American citizen and
you're born overseas, then just
congratulations, you're also an American
citizen.
No paperwork, no anything.
Just is what it is.
Yeah, I mean, we can talk about it for a
few more minutes.
Citizenship is a very interesting topic on
how you become a citizen.
for most people in the US, it's to become
a citizen there are basically three ways.
One is by birth, one is by soil, and one
is by naturalization.
Like those are the three main ways to
become a citizen.
Technically, you can, I guess you can
split naturalization into like two
subcategories.
One is you live in a country and you take
a test and you become a citizen or you buy
a passport.
So without like doing any like name drops
or anything.
There are a lot of countries that will
quote -unquote sell you a passport.
So if you invest in like real estate or
anything And you stay in the country for
like four or five months or six months
they'll give you a passport and this is
pretty popular with countries who are Not
as well off as some other countries and it
is a significant amount at least in my
view so it's 200 300 400 thousand dollars
for that you have to invest in the country
depending on where you go.
And the US has the by birth and by blood.
So we have both, but the by birth is
stronger.
Do you remember the like the birth remove
it with Obama and like when he was
becoming president?
You still hear people bring it up every
now and then.
Yeah.
So for those who don't know, but how was
it?
So like I think it was.
2008, I believe.
Obama, his mother is from Kansas, I
believe.
Go Chiefs.
No, I thought it was Hawaii, wasn't it?
Was it Hawaii?
He was born in Hawaii.
He was born in Hawaii, but OK, don't even
quote me.
But at any rate, his mother was from the
US and his father was from Africa, I
believe Kenya, but I don't have all that
information at the time of my fingers.
But at any rate,
The question surrounding Obama was, was he
actually an American citizen?
And he was.
So he was born in the US and one of his
parents was American citizen.
So either way, he was an American citizen.
But still, I don't want to use the race
card.
But a lot of people kind of called his
American citizenship into question because
one, he's black, specifically he's like
first generation.
And second, because of his name.
So like Obama who's saying something, I
can't remember all of his names pretty
bad.
But so then there's a question like, oh,
he's not American.
And he's not even Christian.
He's Muslim, both of which aren't true.
He is American and he's Christian.
Not that I care.
I don't think you care either.
For I care, he'd be Jewish.
Right.
Although I don't know if there's ever been
an American president that wasn't at least
professed to be a Christian.
I don't think you can even become a
president if you're not at least some form
of Christian.
Like Mitt Romney, he was running against
Obama and he was Mormon.
And that was like, I guess it depends on
who you ask if Mormons are Christians or
not.
I'm not here to decide that.
We're not here to decide that.
Some will say yes.
Some will say no.
But even that was kind of critical for a
lot of people because some people don't
see Mormons as Christians.
I don't know what a bomb it is.
But anyway, I'm starting it off a little
bit sidetracked.
So you have naturalization and what you
also have is by birth.
So you're born somewhere.
And in the US we have the 14th Amendment,
which means if you're born there, you
become a citizen.
And this was kind of like a
Like a retrofit if you will it was
basically to incorporate all like the
slaves that weren't actually citizens.
They were property under the law and then
you have by blood which is what the US
also has and Because my child wasn't born
in the US he was born in Germany.
She was born in Germany.
We had to go buy blood and You'd think
well, I'm an American she'd automatically
get it but it's like nah, it doesn't work
that way because
Do you know what anchor babies are?
Have you heard of those?
Yes, like the concept of like you you
immigrate illegally, have a kid here, that
kid just instantly becomes a citizen and
then you kind of use that as leverage to
stay is like what people talk about.
Yeah, exactly.
And so I don't think this is the official
reason, but I suspect it's in the realm of
possibility.
And like it's one of the reasons.
You could technically be born in the US
and leave and never come back.
And you would still be an American
citizen.
It's enough for you just to be born and
leave the next day.
Which angers a lot of people, especially
those from the right.
I think this was one of the things that
Trump actually wanted to get rid of.
He was completely against the 14th
Amendment because of like the anchor
babies and all that.
And I guess to kind of prevent this.
They make you prove presence, like make
you prove physical presence.
There is however a way around this,
namely, if you decide to naturalize, so if
you decide to become a natural US citizen,
instead of like by birth, you can move to
the US and your grandparents can fulfill
that.
So like if I couldn't fulfill it, then
what would happen is we would go to the US
and my mother would fulfill that.
And my mother's been in the US her whole
life, so except for like maybe like one or
two trips to like Mexico or something.
But that doesn't matter.
And then my child will be US.
But she wouldn't be like by birth, but
like naturalization.
And I'm sure you know this.
I think everyone learned this in school.
If you're not like a citizen by birth, you
can't become president, for example.
So there's.
I sometimes teach English and people are
like, can like Arnold Schwarzenegger, you
know, the Terminator who's been in the US
for like, God knows how long, can he
become president?
Because he was governor.
And I was like, no, he can't become
president.
Sorry, Arnie.
No, he can't become president because he's
Austrian.
So and he's American.
I accept him as American, but he's not
American by birth.
And I don't make up the rules.
But yeah, so I learned a lot about
American citizenship, citizenship law.
over like the past like two months because
I had to do a lot of research.
And yeah, it was pretty scary.
I was pretty nervous.
And my wife was answering the questions
because like one of the authors asked,
like, how long have you been in Germany?
Like, why did you leave Germany?
And I forgot my own history.
And my wife's like, yeah, he's been here
since like, like the early 2000s.
And he he left college and everything.
I was like, oh, yeah, that's right.
I forgot.
So.
Well, I'm glad she was there to bail you
out and I'm glad everything went well.
Yeah, everything went perfect.
So now everyone's starting a little bit
about citizenship law.
There's something else we wanted to
actually talk about being.
Board games.
Board games.
A much less serious topic.
A lot less serious, completely different.
I know you're a big fan of board games.
I'm I used to be.
But I have to play a board game.
It's either Monopoly or life.
But what about you?
I will not play Monopoly anymore.
I just refuse because it's not fun.
It sucks.
It's not fun.
And I get angry and there's no point.
I think Monopoly has probably killed a lot
of people.
And I mean that in a very serious way,
too, because if you.
I'm not really into true crime.
I try to avoid it.
But if you if you're into true crime, oh
my God, then like you'll hear about people
killing each other over Monopoly games.
Like it's a I've never heard that, but I
believe it.
Oh, I've definitely.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Like, you know, people are drinking and
they get kind of aggravated that they go
to jail and then the one guy pulls out a
gun.
I remember one.
I can't remember the exact details, but I
remember one time or this one story.
Sorry.
about this guy who shot his friend with a
crossbow because he got really frustrated
during Monopoly.
So it can turn dangerous pretty fast.
So to be more official on the record for
why I hate Monopoly, one, for a simple
board game, it takes a very long time.
Two, it's almost all random.
There's not much skill or decision points
involved.
And three, it's uniquely aggravating.
It is a very long game.
I mean, it's not a game that you're just
going to pick up and play.
And I'm fine with long games, but I think
when I haven't done this in a while, but a
foreshadow for what I'm going to talk
about in a bit, that's going to change.
When I used to do board game nights, the
plan would be like, we're going to do
we're going to have like two to three fast
board games.
like zombie dice you can do a game of
zombie dice in like five minutes you can
play like three games of zombie dice and
you know 15 or so and then move on to the
next thing we'll play a game of munchkin
you can get their munchkin in like 15 20
minutes um you could do a game of
There's so many like quick little fun
board games with simple, simple like
Monopoly, but they only take 15 minutes.
And then I would do like two medium sized
board games or we would get like a big
board game.
And that would be like our night.
Yeah, I mean that sounds pretty fair.
I don't know if I would have the patience
for that.
I don't really like long things.
I'm a very impatient person.
For anyone who knows me in real life, they
can confirm this.
But I like the fact that you just set it
up and you just go for the whole night.
Yeah, a lot of big box board games can
sometimes take like two hours to set up.
I mean, some people will like kind of
continue on to the next day.
I don't do that.
A quick board game.
I mean, I don't know if Yahtzee is
considered a board game.
Is it?
Yeah, it counts.
Yeah.
I mean, if that's a quick board game, I
love doing that.
I always lose.
I always lose to my wife because it does
take, I don't know, like 30 minutes to set
up.
It's really popular here.
So that's like one of my quick ones.
I can't think of any other quick board
games, honestly.
Maybe Scrabble.
I don't know if that's quick though.
I think it depends on how fast you are and
how you define quick.
It's tough because like I can think of...
I think Surow is pretty quick.
I've only played it once.
But like, I like kind of fun novel, like
really quick snappy board games.
Like they're not super deep or complex or
competitive, but they're, you know, it's
going to take five to 10 minutes.
So who cares?
Just do play another.
Yeah.
Yeah, that's true.
Something like a random thought.
You know Jumanji, right?
I think everyone knows Jumanji.
Is that like an actual board game or is
that just a movie?
You know what, let me look it up.
I think somebody made one.
I would like to think that everyone knows
the movie.
It's a movie from, I believe the nineties.
It has to be the nineties.
Yeah, you can get Jumanji the board game.
Yeah.
I think it's like more of a simple board
game.
Yeah, I've never played the board game.
That just kind of crossed my mind, which
is also a very dangerous board game.
If you want to look at it like that.
So it was kind of fun.
I was telling Chris this before we
recorded and then I stopped myself so we
could actually or he stopped me.
I won't take credit for his good judgment.
A lot of the time we do topics because
something happens to one of us and it's
convenient that someone is usually me.
This is kind of the opposite.
We had decided on board games a few weeks
ago, two, three weeks ago.
And one of the things I'd been meaning to
do here at my new place is I don't have a
dining room table yet.
So it's been on my to -do list to buy a
table.
get it moved here and then I want to start
hosting board game nights.
I actually bought one yesterday.
I got a really good deal at a used
furniture store, a very nice table with
six very nice chairs.
I'm having it delivered sometime this
week, although I'm learning another way
life isn't as nice after COVID.
So it became industry standard, I guess,
you know, like furniture delivery
services.
They used to bring it in your house.
Now they bring it to your front doorstep.
Oh, wow.
And if you want to pay them cash, maybe
they'll think about it.
Well, that sucks.
Yeah.
So I am working on trying to organize some
friends to help me move it, because this
this is a really nice table.
It's really heavy, like this is a heavy,
very nice table.
I can't believe nobody else bought it for
that price.
But so I need to like.
figure out some people I can have here
some morning this week so I can schedule
the delivery.
Yeah, I mean, yeah, that sucks.
Yeah, a lot of things did change because
of COVID.
I mean, that's it.
I guess is the pandemic over?
I would say it's over.
But still, a lot of things have kind of
remained.
Yeah, I mean, it's it's culturally over.
Yeah, I think for all intents and
purposes, I think for everyone who cares,
it's pretty much over.
But on the bright side, now that I'm going
to have a table, I am.
ecstatic about being able to have more
people over.
I can play.
I guess you could kind of consider
tabletop role playing games, board games
in a way.
I'm going to be getting back into that.
I've kind of had to stop over the last few
months since I moved.
And then normal board game nights, I
actually just bought a new one and had it
come in the mail.
My manager was
talking to me about this board game and
telling me how fun it is.
It's called Escape from the Aliens in
Outer Space.
That's a very long title.
Yeah, it's supposed to be like kind of
emulate the feeling of like an alien
movie, like you're in a spaceship being
stalked by an alien and you're supposed to
try to like sneak around and everybody has
their own map and you can't show each
other.
You have to kind of like describe things
and there's it sounds pretty, pretty fun.
And he said it's very tense.
which I like it when board games can
elicit like, you know, feelings like that.
Like that's a well designed game.
That kind of sounds like Battleship a
little bit of like having like different
maps and not knowing where other people
are and trying to find them.
I don't know if Battleship counts as board
game though.
Yeah, it counts.
They haven't played in forever.
But you were asking one question before we
started actually, which is if kids still
play board games, because I as an adult
definitely don't really play really any
games anymore.
I I don't, I could say the typical thing
of like, I don't have time for that, which
is a lie.
I don't make time for it.
I make time for other things.
But definitely when I was a kid, we played
board and card games all the time.
I wonder if it's still popular.
I don't I don't I was going to say I don't
have access to a lot of kids.
That sounds kind of strange, but I'm not
like around like a lot of children.
So I don't know if it's as popular as it
used to be when I was growing up.
It's hard to say.
So when I was growing up, I was in daycare
until, you know, I was like 11 or 12 after
school.
And, you know, there are board games, card
games.
So growing up, I was kind of playing those
things all the time.
Now I have three nephews, the oldest of
which is I might be about to be a bad
uncle, I think seven.
Seven.
And it's hard to say because I really only
see them at like family functions.
And boy, especially the youngest is is a
baby, only like two or three months old.
But.
The other two are like five and seven and
those kids are in the best possible way,
they are monsters.
They run around and throw things and
scream.
They're just having a great time in life.
I cannot picture them being the kind of
kids that have the patience to sit down
and play board game.
And I think that's what it boils down to
is having patience.
I do not think that we are patient society
anymore.
I'm definitely not a patient person.
Patience is a virtue, as my mom always
said, but it's one I can't uphold.
How I always responded.
So I kind of laud you for that, for
enjoying board games.
So when I play them, it's few and far
between.
But one board game, I want to get back to
this one that you mentioned escapes from
the aliens of outer space.
I want to get back to that.
I guess like a small sidestep, have you
played the game Life?
a very long time ago, but yes, I have.
Oh, that's one of my favorite games.
And my wife's too.
It's really funny because I've played a
lot of the a lot of like the classic board
games like like Monopoly life.
What's like shoots and ladders, all that
fun stuff.
And I've always played them in English.
Obviously, because that's the context I
grew up in.
And then like I came here.
And I played the Soviet board games, but I
played them all in German.
And it was really weird because a lot of
the board games are like, have been like
culturally adapted.
So, and they've been translated.
So like, we'll play, I'll play like life
or Scrabble with my wife.
And it's obvious it's all in German.
And it's always kind of weird feeling
playing the same things, you know, in
love, but like in a different language.
I bet especially Scrabble.
Yeah.
Yeah, fun fact for Scrabble.
There was this one, I can't remember his
name, but there was this one guy who
allegedly memorized the whole French
dictionary or a good portion of it so that
he could compete in like the World
Scrabble competition in France.
But he doesn't speak French.
He just memorized the dictionary in
French.
I've heard that too.
That sounds like something somebody would
do.
Yeah, there's some crazy people out there.
I do not have that dedication.
So this new board game, Escape from the
Aliens in Outer Space, so how does that
actually work?
So I haven't opened it yet.
I've seen a little bit.
I didn't want to look too much because I
wanted to enjoy it the first time, but
everybody kind of has their own.
It's not like a clipboard, but like a
short fold open handout everyone's given,
like, this is your map.
like this, which are doing and there's all
these different icons of things you can
do.
And I I'm looking forward to it.
I just because generally I'm a big fan of
horror themed anything.
Probably one of my absolute favorite board
games that I don't get to play very often
is Betrayal from House on the Hill.
And I think I think it's kind of like B
horror.
Like it's like half serious, half not
serious.
But one thing I love about it so much is
that it's a game in two phases.
So at the very beginning of the game,
everybody is, there's no sides.
Everybody's just in the house and you
explore the house and the house is
different every time because there's four
floors to the house.
And when you open a door on a floor, you
go to the room tiles and you draw, you
draw and.
On the back of every room tile, it says
like basement, main floor, second floor,
attic, something like that.
And some rooms can be on multiple floors.
If you're opening a door on a floor.
And it, the card you draw says it can go
on that floor.
You flip it over and you add it.
So you're building the house as you go.
Oh, so it's kind of interesting.
So you can make it like a pretty funny
looking house just by luck of the draw.
And then eventually there's a haunt events
where basically you draw, you enter a room
and there's a haunt there and something
spooky, usually bad happens.
And every haunt you roll the dice and you
have to beat.
the number of haunts or the second phase
of the game starts.
It's very easy early on, but eventually
you're almost guaranteed to go into phase
two of the game, depending on how many
there are.
And then when it happens, you open the
book and there's like a table and it'll be
like, this haunt happened in this room.
And then depending on what the table says,
one of the players,
uh, was the bad guy the whole time.
So there's like a, there's like 50
scenario stories.
So it could be like, Oh, you finally lured
all your friends into the mansion and are
trying to summon this Eldritch God from
another world.
And now you just need to finish the job
and kill them.
Here's how you do that.
Or sometimes it's like, Oh, you weren't
the bad guy, but you.
were instantly killed by this and your
body was taken over by this other thing.
And now you're going to try and kill all
your friends this way.
So, so it's, it's kind of like, like a
whodunit kind of thing.
Kind of, but nobody knows whodunit.
So it could be like, Oh yay, I'm the bad
guy this time.
And then I think this is kind of what
makes it like a fun party game is there's
two books.
There's the survivor book and the, I can't
remember what it's like the villain book
and.
The survivors stay at the table and read
their book and discuss the strategy and
how they're going to survive.
And the villain goes to another room,
shuts his ears so he can't hear.
Read the book and like, OK, this is what I
need to do.
And the fun part is nobody has perfect
information.
So the survivors don't know all the tools
and the powers that the bad guy can use.
And the bad guy doesn't get to know all.
They get to know some, but they don't get
to know all the ways the survivors are
going to try and foil their plans.
So it's just good fun.
Like there's like a mummy scenario,
Frankenstein's monster scenario.
There's a scenario where you have to beat
death itself at chess or you die.
Like there's all sorts of funky ones.
It's funny that you mentioned chess
though.
I mean, I know it's the very last point,
but are you any good at it?
No, I tried to play it for a little bit
and I would like watch some chess videos
because chess was getting really popular
for a while.
I know there was that, I think it was
Queen's Gambit.
I didn't watch Queen's Gambit, but I can't
remember why I was.
Oh yeah, there was like a there was like a
YouTuber and like Twitch, like a, you
know, an internet influencer.
a chess tournament a few years back and
some people I watched were in it and they
would do videos of like, all right, I'm
good.
We're going to we're like practicing for
the tournament and I'd watch some of it.
And I'm like, you know, chess is kind of
cool.
I should try to play chess again.
I just never.
I would play a few games with people, but
I'm just.
I don't want to say I'm bad at it.
I mean, I am, but it's it's mostly for a
lack of trying.
Like I understand there's a way to study
chess where you get better at it.
I just think I don't have the motivation
to spend the time on it.
I'm also terrible at chess.
There was a time in my life where I really
wanted to be good at it, so I practiced a
lot on the computer, but I don't know.
For me, it's a novelty.
I treat chess like any other game, which
is I play it and if I lose, I lose.
I think it's one of those board games
where you really try to build up a skill
so you get better at it.
But I don't know if that applies to any of
the other board games that we've really
talked about because you have to kind of
develop a strategy which you can do in
chess and in checkers.
I always saw checkers as like a watered
down version of chess which probably isn't
true.
That's just the way I felt about it.
and still do.
But I don't know if you can like build up
like a strategy with like Monopoly or the
other games you've mentioned.
So to speak.
There's definitely like some dominant
strategies in a lot of those games.
Like what's the what's the big popular
one?
The one.
Is it risk I'm thinking of the one like a
global like.
Power struggle kind of game.
Yeah, I believe that's risk.
There's a handful of games like that, like
in Settlers of Catan, which is another
very popular board game, which is
basically all about accruing resources and
building a society.
There is generally considered better
things to do than others.
There are dominant strategies.
There almost always is to some degree.
There are people who care a lot about
winning.
Yeah, and I don't.
I'm not really I'm not a sore loser.
I mean, everyone likes winning, I would
say.
That's a statement that most people can
kind of get behind.
But, you know, if I play a game, I play
it.
I don't really play to win, mostly because
I've gotten used to just losing to my wife
because she's better at board games than I
am.
So I just lose all the time and I just
kind of get used to it.
Do you prefer like the physical?
board games or do you also use like
digital ones like like on a switch or like
PS5 or whatever?
I've played a few digital board games.
So growing up, I actually had Monopoly
Party for the GameCube and the only real
difference between Monopoly and Monopoly
Party is that everybody goes at the same
time, which is actually a great idea
because it makes almost no difference and
makes the game super fast.
And then if two people land on the same
space at the same time,
and it's an available property, you just
do an auction and you could set all sorts
of crazy rules.
So that is by far the best version of
Monopoly as far as I'm concerned.
And then I've played Talisman, which is
another pretty popular board game that has
a pretty good version on Steam that I've
played a handful of times.
I don't know if I know that one.
It's basically, oh, it's been a while, but
basically all the players are like
questing to like
get the talisman like at the center of the
map and you're like in this weird place
and you go, it's like in layers.
There's like an outer layer.
There's like four layers in a kind of a
circular ish board.
And there's like certain trials you have
to pass to go inward a layer.
So you, you go around the board trying to
gain power until you could pass the test
to go in a layer.
And you just keep doing that until you
make it all the way to the talisman.
And, you know, there are different events
around the board that can give you the
cards and abilities and just improve your
character.
I might be describing it bad.
It's been at least two or three years
since I've played it, but I have a there's
a friend of mine that enjoys talisman
quite a bit.
So honestly, should probably be playing it
again, because I know he likes it.
Yeah, and that does sound actually pretty
interesting.
I've never heard of it.
I did Google it really quickly and it does
seem to be I wouldn't say old but it's
from the 80s.
But I'm surprised it's that old.
Yeah, so it's 1983.
But I guess one last question before I ask
my my final final question, I guess
because you play a lot of D &D don't you?
Yeah.
Would you also I mean, I guess maybe it's
kind of a stupid question, but would you
then also consider that a board game or is
that like a category of its own?
So it's, they're very closely related,
because it's like, the people who like
tabletop role playing games tend to also
like board games.
It's not uncommon when a dungeon master
needs a break.
He's like, hey guys, I'm just really
tired.
Like, I don't have the material ready
tonight, or I just need a mental break.
Can we just play board games?
Like, that's a common thing that happens,
because they all tend to like board games
too.
And,
I think the board part of board games is
not necessarily a requirement.
Like I would consider Zombie Dice a board
game.
There's no board in Zombie Dice.
It's a cup and dice, but it's, you know,
it's in that family of, it feels, you
know, it's a tactile, we're all going to
sit at the table and play this game kind
of thing.
So if D &D is not a board game, they're
very close neighbors.
And if you don't necessarily need this,
but lots of tabletop role -playing games
optionally can use grids to represent the
space in a combat, and that's very board
gamey.
Yeah, I mean, that's actually a
philosophical question.
Is it still a board game, even though
there's not really a board involved?
Yeah, I'm going to be honest.
Like, I can be a very pedantic person, but
I think that's just I think that's just a
quirk of language.
And we're just going to accept that there
are dice games that are board games.
There are card games that are board games.
Like I played this Wednesday.
So like one, two, three, four days ago, if
I'm counting right.
Uh, was my 30th birthday.
All we did, we went out to dinner and then
three people came back to my place and we
played Dominion, which is a deck building
card game.
There is like a little bit of a board that
comes with it for like discards.
I would still kind of consider that a
board game, but it's not really a board
game, but it's very fun.
People love Dominion.
There's like 20 expansions for Dominion or
something crazy.
Okay, no, I've never played that either
Yeah, I already said happy birthday, but
I'm gonna say happy birthday officially
Thank you.
I'm officially dying.
By the way, it was funny.
So like I said, I turned 30 and it
happened fast.
So the day of my 30th I I meal prepped I
had meal prepped curry early in the week
like Korean rice, a lot of it.
So I'd basically eaten nothing but that
for like three days straight.
And I only got like two hours of sleep the
night before.
I felt horrible of the day of my 30th.
Like I worked like two and a half hours
and then just, you know, called it a day
and went to sleep because those two
factors combined did not make me feel very
good.
So 30 for all you under 30 people, just
just know it.
It happens all once.
I'm practically, you know, a senior
citizen now.
Yeah, I mean, it definitely feels like it.
There was this German interview or this
German talk show that I watched a couple
of years back.
And the one guy had turned, I want to say,
like 55 or something.
And he was like, oh, like I just turned
55.
And the whole audience was like, oh, like
that's like a bad thing.
And he was kind of confused.
It's like, that's a good thing.
But, you know, I turned 55.
It'd be a bad thing if I didn't.
Yeah.
And so that's kind of how I felt about
turning 30.
I'll be 33 this year, so I feel I feel
old.
All the people still call me young, so it
makes me feel better.
But it's like, you know, you don't want to
get old, but you're glad that you get old.
So like there's like this old joke of
like, what does everyone want to become
but not be, which is like old?
So everyone wants to get older, but no one
wants to be old.
And so that's kind of how I feel.
But anyway, I definitely want to touch on
something that we touched on two weeks ago
before we get out of here, which is the
Super Bowl.
So obviously we know how it went.
So were you happy with the games?
Were you happy with the result?
I was happy with the result.
I didn't enjoy watching the game because
it's just...
an exercise and stress for me.
Like I'm like sitting on my armchair,
like, you know, gripping the armrests
like, ah, on the inside the whole time.
I mean, you know, there were some exciting
plays.
There were some fun moments, but like I
bought like a bunch of things and I was
going to make some special cocktails and
this and that.
Didn't didn't do much of that because I
was kind of just like.
glued to the TV and then just, you know,
stress watching.
I mean, I'm glad to hear that you're happy
with the result.
I didn't watch the game.
All I heard about was Taylor Swift there
and chugging a beer.
And that, you know, the Chiefs won.
So which I can I can be happy by proxy
because there are a lot of Chiefs fans in
Missouri.
So, I mean, technically, I won, too, even
though I don't really have a team.
Yeah.
So what was what was very unfortunate?
I don't know if you heard about this.
when they had the parade back in Kansas
City and there was a shooting,
unfortunately.
Yeah, I did.
I did hear about that.
You know, it is super unfortunate.
Yeah.
And I don't know how much you heard about
it.
It didn't necessarily sound like it wasn't
anything planned.
It sounded like it was possibly gang
related, but it was it was some sort of
personal altercation.
It wasn't like somebody planning on doing
a mass shooting.
It was just two people got in a
disagreement and then.
I don't know, there's some other people
charged now, so it's not 100 % clear, but
it just sounds like some bad place, bad
time, people in the crossfire.
I definitely did not know that.
I mean, it kind of makes it feel slightly
better, I guess.
It makes me feel slightly better in that
it wasn't planned, because the Super Bowl
is one of the biggest and most important
events, I would say, for most Americans of
the year, alongside Christmas and whatnot.
Well, you know what hit me and I think
this was like pretty poignant, I guess.
So my favorite sports show, one of the
hosts on it's huge Chiefs fan born and
raised in Kansas City.
When they won last year, they went and did
their show live from the parade.
They did it this year and.
That didn't really work out super well,
but they they they kind of talked about it
on their show.
later in the week.
And one of them said, you know, people
talk about, you know, the happiest place
on earth and blah, blah, blah.
He was like, that was probably actually
the happiest place on earth that day.
Because it was an entire it was like a
million people all at this parade.
Super happy, you know, their team one,
just loving life.
And then that got like stolen.
Hmm.
And that's, you know, plus, you know,
someone died and there were people
injured.
You know, it's not the main point, but
it's just it's sad.
Yeah, yeah, it really is sad that, you
know, that's not that such a happy event
is followed by such a tragedy.
But what are you going to do?
I mean, before we get out of here, I know
we're getting to that time, there is
something I want to shout out.
It's it's an older show.
They last put out an episode six years
ago, but the main reason why I'm into it
as into board games now as I am is because
there's a YouTube show on Geek and Sundry,
which I don't even know if Geek and Sundry
has done anything in a while, but there
it's called Tabletop.
Will Wheaton hosted it for a few years.
The whole premise is basically he picks a
board game, invites some.
some famous people, sometimes not,
sometimes it's like voice actors or just
people he knows and they play a board
game.
And it's a great way to like, oh, that
looks really fun.
Oh, that looks really fun.
Oh, that looks really fun.
So a lot of the games I ended up buying
and starting with when I was getting into
it were like, I was basically just buying
what I saw on tabletop.
And there's tons of board game review
channels and everything like that, but
it's hard to replace seeing someone sit
down at a table for like 50 minutes and
just play a game out to like, that's as
good a review as you're going to get.
Yeah, that does sound super interesting.
I've never heard of it.
But you guys listeners have heard it.
So if you want to go and check out some
board games, definitely check out that
YouTube channel.
We're in no way affiliated, but still.
Again, the show is tabletop.
Yeah.
All righty then.
I think we're done for for this episode.
If you've got nothing else to add, I don't
either.
Yeah, super interesting.
I think we covered it.
Yeah, we covered a lot of different
topics.
We did.
It was a little bit of an ADHD episode,
but that's okay.
Yeah.
Those are the best.
At any rate, thanks everyone for
listening.
We will catch you all in the next one.
Alright, bye.
Bye.
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