Ear Biscuits with Rhett & Link - 254: Link's New Interest | Ear Biscuits Ep.254

Episode Date: September 7, 2020

Link has embarked on a board game journey and is bringing his family along for the ride. R&L discuss their relationship with board games as well as what the rest of their families think of these family game nights. Listen through to the end as this lighthearted discussion takes a more serious turn on this episode of Ear Biscuits! To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This, this, this, this is Mythical. Make your nights unforgettable with American Express. Unmissable show coming up? Good news. We've got access to pre-sale tickets so you don't miss it. Meeting with friends before the show? We can book your reservation. And when you get to the main event, skip to the good bit using the card member entrance.

Let's go seize the night. That's the powerful backing of American Express. Visit amex.ca slash yamx. Benefits vary by card, other conditions apply. Welcome to Ear Biscuits, the podcast where two lifelong friends talk about life for a long time. I'm Rhett. And I'm Link, this week at the round table

of dim lighting, that's right. We're back in our zone, we're back at the table, sitting a little further apart. You know, when we were at the other house. Too close. A little too close, a little too close. I mean, we're not six feet apart, but that's because me and you are a pod.

We're never six feet apart, let's be honest. We don't practice social distancing between the two of us, but this is a slightly more social distance. We are a partnership of creativity. Right. But yeah, pod. And that's why we're here. Creative pod who does a podcast.

This week at the Roundtable of Dim Lighting, we're gonna discuss our relationship with board games. Oh, I thought you were gonna stop at relationship. So many others thought the same thing. I'm sure we'll talk about our relationship. There's a number of relationships that are impacted by this board game conversation. If you don't like board games, this podcast is for you.

And if you do like board games, this podcast is also for you. And if you're indifferent to board games and you have sort of a, I mean, yeah, I'll take it if somebody offers a relationship with board games, this podcast is for you. And by this podcast, we mean this episode. And the whole show.

Yeah. Is a podcast episode a podcast? It's an episode. I gotta ask you another question because I didn't know the answer to that one. I just wanna sweep it under the rug. Are you having ant problems at your house? It is so hot.

I mean, California is freaking burning. It is so hot. I mean, California is freaking burning. It is sad. Like I've looked at, and it's so hot. Like last week, it was record breaking temperatures in our zone, like 105 degree days. And that's the interesting thing that we discovered about California that we didn't know until we moved here.

You know, back in North Carolina, September rolls around and yeah, it's still hot, but it's starting to change. It's starting to say, okay, okay, okay, enough already. Yeah, creeping up on fall. But in Southern California, September is like, we just getting started, y'all. I remember the first year we moved here.

August, September is really hot, typically. Yeah, I remember being 115 degrees in October in Burbank. And I was like, I didn't think this is what it was supposed to be. So yeah, it's super hot. But it's hotter than normal. The fires are everywhere. And I think that's why all of these insects

are now inside of my house. Oh yeah. You know it's hot when it's too hot for an insect. I mean, can an insect, they're used to a hundred degree temperature. They can do that. They have an exoskeleton. Apparently, they're sensitive

when it gets to that temperature because I think that is the reason. There's just, like I looked in Jade's dog bowl and I went over there because I knew there was still food in it, but she was like, she'd bark and she'd look at me. And I was like, you're asking for food, but you've already got food.

Well, you know where this is going. I walk over there, there's more ants in the bowl than there is food. And she doesn't, she's not, ants are not on the menu. Menu. Nope. She did not not on the menu. Nope. She did not wanna eat the ants. So I like, I clean out the whole bowl

and then Christy starts, she found the spray. I didn't even know we had it. Oh, we got lots of sprays because we deal with this. What, we? All the time. We got, I mean, I got natural sprays that don't actually harm the humans and the pets. And then when things get real bad,

all bets are off and we harm everyone, including us. Well, unnatural sprays. She let loose with this spray. I mean, I'm totally relocated Jade's bowl to somewhere else because I know that these ants are talking to each other because there's a whole- Pheromones. There's a whole line of ants. They like make a trail.

Trail of scent. And then it's going up and it's going like through, there's no hole next to the window, but somehow- Oh, they don't need a hole. They don't need a hole, they're just coming in. I think they can just talk about teleportation. They copper-filled it. They're the ones who know how to teleport.

Yeah, they copper-filled it right through the wall sometimes. This morning, I went back into my bathroom to take a shower and brush my teeth and get ready to come in here. I appreciate you doing that by the way. Hey. You know, keeping up with regular hygiene.

Keeping it fresh. I mean, I'm still shaving and everything. Yeah, I'm shaving under my beard and right on my cheeks where there's some weird hairs that grow up above the line. Oh really? Yeah. You wanna have that eyebrow to beard connection happening? Well, I don't think that would ever happen. I think that would happen for me.

But I have a couple of hairs that are like, should we see if we could go up higher on the face? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, no, you can't. Those hairs are like the first ants. They're like, whoa. They're frontiersmen. It's cooler in here. There's dog food. I'm gonna exc no, you can't. Those hares are like the first ants. They're like, whoa. They're frontiersmen. It's cooler in here.

There's dog food. I'm gonna excrete some sort of path or maybe they just walk back. But my thing is, if I get every ant that's here and I corral them all together and then I spray them and mop them up and like throw them in the trash can, there's none to go back and communicate.

But am I getting them confused with bees and is it some pheromone trail that they're dropping because I'm also spraying that. I think I got it covered. But my point is I went back upstairs, you know, I get up, I mosey downstairs, I drink my coffee, I do some meditating, do some exercising, I drink my coffee, I do some meditating, do some exercising,

I drink my breakfast, then I come back upstairs and I get ready, right? Brush my teeth, take a shower. It was at that point this morning that I looked on my bathroom counter, and this is the second floor of my house. Yeah. I mean, there's never any food up here.

You don't do bedroom eating? Never, never. As a policy? We just don't. There's never any food upstairs in our bedroom. Not like a secret chocolate stash or anything? No, no secrets. You got a secret chocolate stash?

Yeah, because I got chocolate in my- You got night chocolate? Yeah, yeah, I'm like a middle-aged woman reading a romance novel. I got dark chocolate bars in my bedside table because- Well, you better watch out because the ants are gonna find it. The kids, man, the kids.

You got a kid-free stash. Yeah, they'll find the chocolate. And yes, it is safe for my dog. I understand that it's deadly to dogs, but Barbara cannot get in there and she's never tried. She's never tried. I go back up there and then right there on my kitchen counter where I left it,

like I do every morning, is my grinder. You know what I'm talking about? Your grinder? My teeth insert thingy that- Keeps you from grinding. Keeps my teeth from grinding against each other. I would call that a mouth guard and not a grinder. Keeps my teeth from grinding against each other. I would call that a mouth guard and not a grinder.

A mouth guard. Because people could get confused. I call it my grinder because I grind it instead of grinding my teeth against each other. Well, it's easy to, you know, same number of syllables and also doesn't lead people to, you know, incorrect conclusions. Just call it a mouth guard.

You'll seem like Steph Curry. You know where this is going. Ants all over my grinder, a bunch of them. Yeah. And I'm like, oh my gosh. And so I'm rinsing off the mouthpiece and I'm getting all these ants go down in the flood of my sink and I'm-

Do you feel bad in that moment? And I'm r and I'm fine. Do you feel bad in that moment? And I'm raking them in there. Do you feel bad in that moment that they're all drowning? No, I'm angry. I'm like, this has got to stop. Do you take pleasure in murdering them? No. I guess the thought does cross my mind.

Because I do. It's like, what are they, are they feeling? I know they're not feeling anything. Christy walks in at that moment and I was like, look at this. She's like, God, why are they on that? And I'm like, because it's like my spit. They want to eat my spit.

It's different. Ants will congregate around, it isn't just food sources or sugar. Sometimes it's electronics. Like there's something about the vibration of a certain like- Based on- They'll find a walkie talkie and they'll get on that.

Based on the mouthpiece, if I lay still enough in my bed, am I gonna wake up with a mouth full of ants? Possibly. Is that how bad things have gotten? Over time, you'd probably have to die first or at least be rendered unconscious for a long period of time.

Also rats can eat your toes when you're unconscious or your nose if you have a rat problem. So do you have ants crawling all over your house? It's funny because we started noticing ants earlier in the summer. And like, you know, we've got the driveway that's got like the white wall on one side. And so very often as I'm kind of leaving the drive,

you know, leaving during the morning or walking up and down the driveway, there's all kinds of trails that they will create on that wall. And you can see it. And so that's when I'm like, oh, they're active again. I've tried so many different things. Oh, excuse me. on that wall. And you can see it. And so that's when I'm like, oh, they're active again. I've tried so many different things.

Oh, excuse me. For some reason, I picked up a Dr. Pepper on the other side and I'm drinking it. And the other side. The other side, you crossed over. And how do we know? Cause you came back with a Dr. Pepper. I almost died and came back.

The other side of the building is what I meant. But I thought that this year they were gonna be worse because I started seeing them earlier and one morning, Shepard was like, "'Dad, there's all kinds of ants in the guest bathroom!" But it hasn't been that bad, but the thing that we've noticed is spiders. Spiders too, yeah.

And flies. The other night. Flies? Before we got ready to eat dinner, Jessie had left the door open for Barbara to go out and she left it open for too long. You know what, I have seen a few flies in my house. I take that back.

So we're getting ready to eat dinner and Jessie's like, could you kill some of those flies? Cause she knows me, I'm the fly assassin. She knows I take a certain amount of pride in my work and my technique slapping above them and trapping them. You anticipate their exit. And exit right into my hands. And you slap right at that spot.

Now I proceeded to, before we eat, in approximately a 12 minute period, murder seven flies in my kitchen. And there were still three flying around. There was a total of 10 that we found in the kitchen. Oh wow. Now, and Jessie was like, what is happening? I was like, it's so hot.

Yeah. They feel that AC coming out and they're like, ooh, it's nice in there. And they come in there. Now. I bet somebody's got a mouthpiece. To get back to this, what I begin to do, and it really upsets my wife,

and I don't quite understand it. I begin to talk junk to the flies. And so what I'm doing is I take a couple of them out, like the fat ones that are easy and slow. And then we start getting down to the nimble ones. What are the fat ones full of? Life. I think they've just been around.

I think there's a life cycle. I was gonna say blood, but that would be a mosquito. I don't know how long flies are alive. I can't, it can't be more than a few weeks, right? And I think that those big ass flies are at the end of their life cycle. And they kind of, they go into, they go inside somewhere and they get slow and they become easy targets.

But when it gets down to those last three or four flies and they're smaller and they're more nimble, I begin to say, you've made it this far. You think you're out of the woods. You've seen your comrades go down one by one. You say this out loud? Yes, I begin to speak to them.

I think you're, okay. And I say, here's the thing. These, my friends, are your last moments on Earth. Make the most of it. And Jessie's like, please shut up. She's like, don't talk that way. It makes me feel bad about the flies. You're like a-

I'm like, you're the one who asked me to kill them, woman. You're a blood lusting zealot, despot. I think it's the fact that I don't believe in doing harm to living beings in general and especially ones that can like comprehend the difference between life and death or pain and not pain and it's not just a stimulus, you know? Let's just say mammals.

You don't like to kill a mammal, right? Yeah, yeah, I do not like to kill a mammal. No, I don't like the idea of mammals getting killed. Yes, I'm a meat eater. Yes, it's hypocritical. We'll get to that in 10 years. Okay, but back to- Mark your calendar.

Don't worry, we'll get to it. But with flies- They're an easy target. It feels like I can take a little bit of my aggression out. I mean, everybody's got aggression. You kind of need to deal with it in some way. And I feel like- I bite a pillow.

Yeah, and a pillow, pillow can't die. I mean, what happens- I grind on my grinder. When I slap the hell out of that fly and he dies and I throw him in the trash, I'm like, I just did something. I mean, that fly was gonna be alive for another week maybe. Did you feel better? Yeah, I do.

But my wife makes me think a little too much about it. She's like, I don't like it when you start talking to them like that. And I'm like, but I do. You could just leave the room and let me talk junk to the flies. The weird thing is that- I'm the Lord of the flies.

They don't think about it. They can't communicate. And they don't have emotions associated with being slap murdered. So the disturbing part is that you're kind of- I like that term. You're putting the things on them that might deter others from then killing them,

but you're like, you're slathering that on them. Hey, feel this, think about what I'm about to do to you. Yeah, I'm talking to them like I'm killing humans. Right. Because it seems more substantial. That's why it's troubling. Let me just, okay, I'm gonna tell you. So, and I'm on Jesse's side.

Okay, can I take, one additional little tangent, you're gonna, I don't know what you're gonna think about this idea, but last night we were watching the most recent season of. If you're gonna say that you then eat the flies, I don't wanna hear it. Last night we were, I'm just trying, this is my opening- Is this another reality TV?

I'm opening my mind and my heart to you, into you, you know, and I know being vulnerable can get you in trouble, but I'm going for it, okay? So I was watching the latest season of Married at First Sight with Jessie, and I don't like the people this season. I like them less than I didn't like the people this season, I like them less than I didn't like the people last season or I hate them more

than I hated the people last season. I actually started liking some of the people in the previous season but I don't like any of these couples yet, right? And there's five couples for the first time ever, five. So you're talking about killing them, I get it. What, no, what I told Jessie is I was like, what do you think, in the, I think there might be a feature

where you get so upset with the characters on a reality show that you can like press a command into the device that you're watching and they'll like die on screen just for your own personal satisfaction and they won't be a part of the show anymore. Like that level of interaction, but they don't really die. It's just like a first person shooter, but it's the show anymore, that level of interaction, but they don't really die, it's just like a first person

shooter, but it's the show that you're watching. You're like, I hate that character so much, or I hate this couple, and you press a button and they both go, and they fall down and die on the show. And I was like, I know that's demented, but I hate this one couple in particular, they make me cringe so hard that I wanna hurt them. And I know that's wrong, but if I see it

as just the thing that's happening in media, like in video games and it's not real, it's all just portrayed and acted, it feels like it would be okay. Bring this to your therapist. And then once. But what do you think about that feature? It could, maybe it's just, you could tickle the characters.

Logistically, it doesn't work. No, but on, but no, no, in the future they can do anything. If it was like on a touch screen. You're not the only one watching thatistically, it doesn't work. No, but in the future, they can do anything. If it was like on a touchscreen- You're not the only one watching that show, is what I'm saying. But your feed is your feed, and you tickle the person, they laugh on your feed. It's interactive, it's personalized.

Listen, but you- And you poke them hard enough, it's like a voodoo doll and they get hurt. So you want to have personalized VR, basically it's, well, it's a personalized reality show. Yeah, that I can interact with. It's like a video game. It's like a video game.

It's a video game, yes. It's a video game, but it's a reality show. I think this is gonna happen. But where you were just going with the VR, I think a VR game in which you're in a kitchen and you're killing flies with your two VR hands. That's just a phone app. Well, I guess- No, you gotta be VR.

You gotta have the gloves. I'm gonna make that game. Fly, Fly Assassin. Fly Assassin's Creed. I'm gonna jump on that train. I don't kill any flies in my house because Jade kills them. That's the only reason she gets exercise.

Jade kills flies? Yes. She's seven inches tall. Does she kill the ones that are above her? She waits for them to come down and they always do. And she kills them? She, yeah, she bites them and then they're on the ground and she sniffs them.

And I think she eats them when I'm not looking. How reliable is she? Because if we could work together. I'll rent her out to you. I'll go for the high, she'll go for the low. Yeah, yeah, I could be a- No flies can escape us. You'd be an exterminating doggy man duo.

We're gonna talk about board games, but we do want to remind you, if you watch GMM, you know about this already, votelikeabeast.com. This is a website that we put together because we are really trying to motivate people to take part in the election this year. Yeah, I've, you know, it's, I remember back when we were- Lads.

When we were at Buies Creek Elementary School, I guess we were in eighth grade. It was the Clinton, it was when Clinton won the presidential election. 92, that would have been, yeah. So Clinton, Bush. It would have been a freshman year. Hold on, was it, who did he run against?

Yeah, it was Bush going for his second term. Yeah, yeah. The first Bush. Yeah, Herbert Walker. And I remember being really into that. Like all the kids in the school voted. You had a school-wide election. School-wide election. School-wide election.

It was very exciting. And I don't remember being that heated either. It was just fun. You know, it's like, this is not fun. But for the first time since that election, I actually feel like, oh my gosh, this matters. Now, of course I've voted. For the first time since 92.

This is not really been paying attention. It's, I mean, you know that elections matter and but it's very palpable to me this time around. And there's just a level of urgency that I haven't felt before. Well, I think a lot of people will say that because. And I don't think that's true, but that is part of my. No, I think you think about how much political discourse.

Well, let me clarify what I think is true. I think all elections are extremely important. That's what I mean. But there is something about this election for me personally that I'm the most engaged I've ever been. I think you speak for a lot of people. What I'm getting at is the reason you speak for a lot of people is because many people

who didn't care at all about politics, and I'm not saying you didn't care at all about politics, but you're not really a politically motivated person. Right. But a lot of people who are in that boat have seen what's happened in our country over the past four years. And think about how much we talk about the president

in a way that we've never talked about a president, right? The news is so dominated by political discourse. We're even more polarized than we were four years ago. And so a lot of people are like, ah, I guess I'm gonna be a part of this process. And we feel the same thing. And on Good Mythical Morning, we don't get political on the show by and large.

It's like we try to preserve that space to be an escape from, I don't know. You get that a lot of places. Like if you find yourself witnessing or being a part of like a Twitter war or some sort of ugly back and forth on Facebook, and we don't wanna bring that into Good Mythical Morning.

I don't wanna bring that into Good Mythical Morning. You know, I don't wanna bring that type of energy into my life personally, but we did wanna do something to mobilize everyone to vote. Yeah. And to help make each person's decision to enable their decision as much as possible, whatever their decision may be. Voting like a beast,

it goes beyond the really important first step, which is just registering to vote and being ready to vote, which is important. So you can do that at Vote Like a Beast. But the sort of the next layer that we think is important is informing yourself, right? Because you as a citizen who is eligible to vote, you, the most clear way that you can actually

let your voice be heard according to the issues that you find important is by exercising your right to vote. And a lot of times people are just like, ah, my vote really doesn't count. It kind of gets lost in the mix. And, but the collective power of our voices is incredibly important. I mean, the collective power of the vote

consists of individual voters like you. And when you can make the connection between what you believe and what you find to be important and what you would like to see happen in your country to the candidates who have policies that they've laid out publicly, that makes you an informed voter. So we have tools on the site

that help make those connections, profiles of candidates. We link out to resources that we've kind of brought together aggregated into one place to make you have the option of being an informed voter to the point where you can actually take a voter guide into the ballot box if you're voting in person, or you can have it right there when you're voting by mail. So you can make choices that are according to your interest

and how you are informed about the issues. Right, so it's all in one place. We try to make it as simple as possible to empower you to vote according to your conscience. That's votelikeabeast.com. We invite you to check it out and share that with people. It's nonpartisan, go for it. Vote like a beast.

Shop Best Buy's ultimate smartphone sale today. Get a Best Buy gift card of up to $200 on select phone activations with major carriers. Visit your nearest Best Buy store today. Terms and conditions apply. Okay, so let's get into board games. I wanted to talk about this because I'm on a journey, okay? Yeah. I know we're all on a journey,

but I'd like to think that I am on a very specific and special link journey. Everybody thinks their journey is the most important one. That's what makes you human. And I've come to an intersection that involves board games. We talked about our vacations a few episodes back and the one thing that I kept from you

because it was so special to my heart and I didn't, you know, I just didn't know if I wanted to share it was, well, and really we ran out of time because I think we ended up talking about probably reality TV. Yeah, I'm sure it was. I'm sure it was.

We are not a board game playing family but Christy packed these board games I didn't even know we had. And I'm like, you know what? I saw a couple of board games. And the first one that we ended up playing was Codenames. And the reason why is because we played Codenames. I learned Codenames at your house in your monthly game night,

which is currently on COVID hiatus. And I was like, you know what, this isn't a, I would not call that a board game, I call it a party game, okay? But I think I'm, I don't have the terminology right because I'm just beginning my journey. There is a board though. There is a board.

For those of you who don't know how Codenames works, well, I can't explain it. It's a verbal game where you're divided into two teams. So with our family, it was, Gracie was there with us. And so it was three against three. And I think she brought this game actually. I was like, oh, I love this game. Because it's not a strategy game,

it's a verbal game where you're like giving clues. I'll try to quickly explain the rules and it probably won't mean anything to you. So I'll make it quick. But basically you have a board in front of you that has a series of words on it. Yeah, you put cards down and it's one word per card and they're in a mosaic.

And you are trying to get your team to guess the words that are associated with your team and not guess the words that are associated with the other team. And the more that, and you can only give one word clues. And so you're trying to come up with, when it's your turn and basically you have one person who is the clue giver for that round for the team.

And you're trying to come up with one word that will connect as many of those words on the board that are your words. So if it was like- Saturn, space and telescope, you might say astronomy. But if you had Saturn and space, and you and I are the clue givers for our opposite teams, I also know which words are yours.

And if I had Venus. If Venus was yours, I can't, you know, I can't, I could say three astronomy. And that means three of the words on the board could be associated with astronomy. And then everyone on my team verbally processes and it's kind of torturous to then give the clue and listen, but it's very fun.

I believe it to be. It's a great, great game. I believe it to be the best, it is the best game that we have played at game night. Yeah, it's good for a party. There's not a lot of strategy involved. There's a lot of interplay between all the players. So we started playing that.

There's Codenames Pictures as well, which is the same thing, but it's- Oh, a sequel. You haven't played that? I thought it was well. we started playing that. There's code names pictures as well, which is the same thing, but it's done. Oh, a sequel. You haven't played that? I thought it was well. I never played that. It's the same exact thing, except it's pictures instead of words.

The rules are exactly the same and what you're trying to, and the way you're giving clues is exactly the same, but you're trying to get them to guess these pictures. And it's weird because it'll be like these weird symbolic sort of mosaic type symbol pictures that- Are open to interpretation. Open to interpretation. So you have to find what your partner

and your team is thinking and it's great. We were having a lot of fun and it was like, oh my gosh, this is exactly what I hoped our vacation would be. Our family is gathered around a table. We're playing a game together. And why do you think it took vacation to break out the board games?

We don't own Codenames. And yeah, because I've never enjoyed board games. I'll get into that more. But then there were two nights of playing Codenames and boy, everybody was into it. There was food, there was drink, there was music, there was Codenames, there was togetherness. Alcohol for the whole family?

The whole family. Jade was drunk off her peri-ass. And then I'm looking over there and I'd seen this other game and I was like, Catan. Or is it Catan or is it Catan? I think Catan is the correct pronunciation, but Catan is what- I was like, this is Settlers of Catan.

I didn't know we own this and it was a brand new game. Was it junior or regular? Regular and Christy had bought this thing. And so the third morning after the two nights of Codenames, I'm like, you know what, I'm gonna open this up. Never been played, fresh out of the box. I was reading about it. I was like, we're gonna do this.

We're gonna do this. Now I had heard about this game and I'm like, this is not gonna be for me. This is a strategy game. I've always hated strategy. I've never had a good experience with a strategy game. And again, we'll get, we can, I'm curious about your past and your perspective,

which I think is different than mine, but we can go into the reasons why, but I'm like, you know what? It was such a good experience. I want this quintessential strategy board game and we should give it a shot. It's an intricate board, we gotta pull everything out and set it up for the first time.

Lando, even if he can't follow the game because he's 10 years old, he'll enjoy setting it up. Well, actually he did enjoy playing the game and followed just like anybody else or he was as good as me. And we had a great experience playing what I would call Settlers of Catan, but- How long did it-

The box just says Catan. How long did it take? Because we were learning and they do a really good job of like, if you're just learning, you kind of skip ahead a little bit. They kind of prime the game a little bit for you so you have the momentum of the beginning. Have you ever played it?

Yeah. I'd never ever played it? Yeah. I'd never ever played it. I'd only heard of it. And I think it was like an hour and a half, maybe almost two hours. And I loved it. The reason why I loved it was because, I mean, you're like, you trade with people in order to like,

to settle this land called Catan, Catan, who knows? We settled on it being Catan. In the Neal House, we call it Catan. I think that's fine. I think that might be right. You build roads, you build settlements, and then you turn them into cities. And then it's, you know, you have to do it

by like trading sheep for brick and you're trading with people and there's some strategy involved, but it's not too crazy. I mean, we were, just as a flashback, when Christy and I were first married, before we started having kids, we were invited to, we had these friends of the older couple, they had some kids who were like middle schoolers.

And they said, we want you to come over and play Risk with us. And it was like the worst night of my life. They were so into it. I didn't know how to play. At that night I concluded, you know what? I can't get this, it's very frustrating. It lasts forever.

I just don't have a mind for strategy. I don't have a strategy mind. You know what? It's my shortcoming, I'm not gonna blame it on them, but they are really into it and it's a little bit alienating. And why is this taking forever? Let's just talk.

Risk is its own thing. We used to- So just to complete my thought, I thought I would hate, I was like very proud of myself because here I am doing a strategy game and it seems like everybody's involved and I'm like, I'm actually following this. Turns out when I looked online to find other games

like Catan that we could also play, it's categorized as a light strategy game. So that kind of- Yeah, there's not a lot to it. That notched down my ego a little bit. I think it's fun. Now, speaking of risk, because, we used to play, like me and my father-in-law,

my brother-in-law, and like an assorted bunch who've ever happened to be around. Sometimes it was my wife's cousin that was there as well when they were in town, would play these really intense, long games of Risk. And the thing about Risk is the games can last for hours. Right? It's not, I mean, we would sometimes go into these

like three or four hour long games because it kept going back and forth. And everyone who was playing, like you think I'm competitive? I was easily the least competitive in this group between my father-in-law, my brother-in-law and my wife's cousin. As long as everybody's into it, that's great.

No, but what would happen is, and this is what I wanna get back to asking you about, because this maps onto like the way my family plays games. It would get, my brother, my father-in-law and my brother-in-law would sometimes, I was like, they're gonna fight, they're finally gonna fight. You know what I'm saying?

Like fist fight. Cause it was so intense, it would get so intense and like you do these things that like with risk, you have the option of like, I'm gonna team up with this guy and we're gonna sabotage you and we're gonna take you out. And a lot of times we would do that to my father-in-law

because he was the best at the game, he'd been playing for a long time, you know how he's you out. And a lot of times we would do that to my father-in-law because he was the best at the game and had been playing for a long time. You know how he's so competitive. And so- Nothing makes you angrier than if you get teamed up against, there's little you can do. And I was always just kind of like

a little bit like Switzerland. I didn't start in Switzerland, that's not a great strategy. But I'm really competitive, but I would just kind of play it. I was just like, this is entertaining because they're so passionate about this. And if you go to somebody who's like, they've got their strategy down,

you can't just, like that couple did you a disservice by inviting you into a game that can be as intense as risk and not like picking up on your signals that you were not into it, or that maybe we should like play it in a more, you know, inviting way. It reminds me of the story of when we, back in 19, it was 2003 probably,

when we were on our staff training to go on staff with Campus Crusade. What was the last thing that filled you with wonder, that took you away from your desk or your car in traffic? Well, for us, and I'm going to guess for some of you, that thing is... Anime! Hi, I'm Nick Friedman. I'm Lee Alec Murray.

And I'm Leah President. And welcome to Crunchyroll Presents The Anime Effect. It's a weekly news show. With the best celebrity guests and hot takes galore. So join us every Friday wherever you get your podcasts and watch full video episodes on Crunchyroll

or on the Crunchyroll YouTube channel. Yeah, we went down to Florida. So we were there like taking seminary classes for a summer and then also being trained in like everything we were gonna do. And we became really good friends with Eric and Natalie who were from Tennessee.

And the six of us really got along, right? We were all basically newlyweds, I would say. We were newlyweds and we just, you know, we all liked each other, right? Yeah. And so we connected with them probably more than anybody at staff training. And we got into playing not a board game,

but a game party game catchphrase. And the reason why we play that, cause by that point, again, that was around the same time as the risk incident. And like in college, we would play risk some, like there were people who liked risk. And that was like, by the, I was, became convinced that like, none of this was for me, none of these board games,

strategy games, but party games, like catchphrase, where it's like, it's quick and it's verbal and it's fun. And then it's over and you can basically end it at any time. You know, it's not this like, you don't have to invest the whole night in it. And then if it goes sideways or somebody gets upset. The learning curve is much lower. It's simple. You sit down and you get it. And then if it goes sideways or somebody gets upset. The learning curve is much lower. It's simple.

You sit down and you get it and then, but we- So I was very into, and still am very into something like catchphrase. And you know, we say this all the time. You don't think you're competitive. I think you're just as competitive as me. You just show it in a different way. But I think you hate to lose just as much as me.

You're just better at keeping it to yourself. Now the, and you would get super, super into- I don't know about that, but we can come back to it. So we would start playing this, the six of us, and we would get so into it, like loud. We were at the, what was it, the El Caribe? Was that the hotel that we were at in Panama City? Apartment building.

I mean, everyone, do we need to explain what catchphrase is? Basically, it's hot potato, but it's like password. There's a word you gotta get people to guess and you can't say the word. Yeah, and if it stops in your hands, you lose. So there was this other couple that we didn't really know that well, but they were gonna go on staff with Athletes in Action, which is the Campus Crusade wing

that ministers to athletes. Yeah, they were like a- And they had been college athletes. Right. And so we were like, these people are competitive. They surely will be into how wild and crazy and intense our games of catchphrase get. We invited them over one night.

Yeah. And we're playing the game and we're doing our typical like yelling and like when somebody gets it wrong, everybody yells. When somebody gets it right, everybody yells. And I'm just kind of noticing this couple is shrinking. They're not really being loud at all. They're not, they don't seem like they have the will to win.

And I think we scarred them forever. They did not ask to come back. And we didn't talk a whole lot after that. I think that the energy we had, it was like, it was just, it was fun to have energy. We were playing guys against girls and I think one of the things that happens with me when I'm playing a game is I get,

like I'll say things and you're like, is he mad? He seems mad. And if you're the kind of person who that kind of energy- For comedic effect. That kind of energy- If you knew you. Well, no, I'm just, I'm really getting into it but the moment that like, we gotta order a pizza, I'm like, what y'all want on the pizza? You know what I'm saying? It's like, I'm really getting into it, but the moment that we gotta order a pizza, I'm like, what y'all want on the pizza?

You know what I'm saying? It's like, I'm not actually mad, I'm just really intensely competing. It's like when you're playing basketball with somebody and you're talking trash to them, but then you're like, hey, let's leave in the same car. It's just part of the competitive spirit for me, right? But some people don't respond well to that

and they think, oh, these people must be mad at each other. And I think that that wasn't how they're, they were also newlyweds. I don't think that's how it worked for them. Whereas in our marriages, I feel like there was a lot of like, you could be loud with your spouse and it didn't mean you were mad with them.

I mean, that's definitely how me and Jessie are. I think also when you and I were on a team, we could give clues that seemed impossible. Right, because we knew how we were thinking. It's like we would speak in code and then it would be very frustrating for- We were tough to beat. We were tough to beat when we were on the same team.

Yes, that was very, that was hilarious to us and very decimating and frustrating to- But so when you're playing- To competitors, Catan as a family. They ended up just not coming around anymore. Right. So when you're playing Catan as a family,

are you, it sounds to me, what I was picturing in my mind as you were talking about it isn't like this is, I want to win and that's the main thing I'm thinking about. It was more, I'm having a great time with my family. That's what I was feeling. Lincoln is pretty competitive and he's a very strategic thinker.

I don't get that competitive directly with, I mean, I get competitive for the sake of like entertaining myself and my family, but like not in the same way that on game night, like I want to win and it becomes personal. With my family, it's like, if Shepherd wins this game, that's awesome for him. So I'm not gonna try to like take him out.

Well, I actually won, but I wasn't like gloating or anything, I was actually surprised because Lincoln started, he built all of his cities in this one place where like with odds are he would end up getting all these bricks. He became, he was talking all this smack about how he was a brick factory. Oh, I got so much brick.

If anybody wants any brick, you gotta come to me. That became fun when it was just like, you start to play a role in the game of like you're the brick mogul. And then, you know, people think he's doing so well because he's got so much brick that nobody wants to trade with him. And then he gets frustrated and that was fun.

Fun to watch him get frustrated. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But we were all doing the same thing and having a good time. So then I'm coming, I'm like, this is a new era. I think we can do this. At the beginning of quarantine, I was thinking, you know what, it's puzzle time, it's game time. On the Mythical Society, we were doing this thing early on

where all the Mythical crew members were making videos from home about like what they were doing during quarantine and making suggestions about things that you could also enjoy while being isolated in quarantine. And Caleb, our graphic designer, who give him credit for most all of the merch stuff that's designed, he does the vast majority of that.

I happen to be watching one of his videos on the society and he started talking about board games and he talked about this one game called Parks. And the way he talked about it, it was a strategy game where you go through, where you make your way through all the national parks. And I'm like, my dream is to like be the dad who goes to all the national parks with my family.

While never leaving my living room. So now we can do that here. And it's like the artwork looked really cool. And then it was, ended up I couldn't get one. I had to, they have a Kickstarter campaign for an expansion and I ordered that. I still haven't gotten it, but I was like, you know what, we're gonna get this parks game

and this is gonna be the new family thing. Hasn't happened, but I do, that's the next thing I'm excited about. We come back from the beach and I'm like, all right, every Sunday, that's gonna be our game time. And so, you know me, I'm like, I'm excited about Catan. That's what we're gonna play. And I thought everybody else would be excited.

This is the new Neil thing, tabletop gaming. And then Lily's like, I don't wanna play that. That game's stupid. I was like, it don't wanna play that. That game's stupid. I was like, it wasn't stupid. It wasn't stupid, two days ago. She's like, sheep and bricks, not for me. You ran into a teenage mentality. Yeah, I'm like, you just made me so mad.

I was like, well, we're gonna play a game. We ended up playing the, we had a Star Wars version of Clue, which that, we didn't even finish. I was like, look at what happened. Fizzle out. Fizzle out, you know? And then Lincoln's a few, the next weekend,

Lincoln's like, we should play Among Us. I'm like, tabletop gaming? He was like, no, we each need to be on our phones. It's a video game on your phone that you play. It's fun with five people, but you can't talk to each other. And even though we're in the same room, you gotta act like we're like in different rooms.

Wow, okay, yeah. And I'm like, seriously? I told Lily, I was like, if we play Clue, next time we are gonna go back to Catan and we're gonna like it. We are going to like it. That's the dad spirit. And then we're gonna like it. We are going to like it. That's the spirit, that's the dad spirit. And then we didn't go back. Force your kids to like stuff.

Now we're playing Among Us, which is actually a pretty, it's a very fun game. Is it one of those games where like, you're all looking at the television, like those trivia games when you're on your phone? You're all looking at this spaceship schematic and you're running around and you're a crew member, but then one person is an imposter

and he's sabotaging everything on the ship and killing people. And then you have to, if you're a crew member every time you play the game, you're randomly assigned. You have to perform tasks to like run around the ship and do things. But if you're the imposter, you have to act like you're run around the ship and do things. But if you're the imposter, you have to act like you're doing things.

But then when you're alone with somebody, you have to kill them. And then when a crew member finds someone dead, they have to report dead body. And then everybody comes together and you discuss, like you actually can talk at that point about who you think the imposter is. So it's got like a mafia werewolf kind of vibe, I think.

Yeah. But it's mostly in this gaming world. Of course, I'm so freaking oblivious to how to play a video game that they're just laughing at me the whole time and then ultimately getting angry at me because I don't know what a dead body looks like and I don't know how to move around.

They're like, he was standing still for a really long time. He must be the killer. Like, no, I don't know how to move. It's like, I don't know how to move. Yeah, I got stuck. So we quickly moved. Somehow my family has taken us away from our new identity as a board gaming family

back into like our own phone zone. Well, but I think this is still a victory to be celebrated, right? Yes. Because first of all, the distinction between board games and party games is one that- In video games, blurring? No, I'm just saying that when it comes to what it is that you're trying to accomplish,

which is doing something, I'm not gonna say not on screens because that is on screens, but doing something together that's fun as a family, creating family memories. The distinction between the board games and party games, it doesn't matter, right? Yeah, I was happy that most everybody was willing to play that game at least three times until it was like somebody was like,

I don't wanna do this anymore. Well, the thing- I'm going to my room. You can't go to your room. The thing that you're always dealing with when it comes to teenagers is them being on their phones and them being in contact with their friends, girlfriends, whatever the people that they stay in contact with. Their attention spans are really short

and it's very difficult for them to unplug from being in contact, right? So, and also just their attention spans are short in general. I mean, you know, we watch a lot of movies and I try to introduce the kids to, you know, movies that I grew up with and, you know, Locke and I watch horror movies together and now we've kind of gotten, you know, he's 16 now,

now we're watching some of the movies from my list of my favorite movies that I wouldn't let him watch up until now. And when you're looking at a total running time of like two and a half, three hours for some of these movies, that is a lifetime for a teenager these days. Yeah, I told my kids, I'm like,

you don't know how to watch a movie. You can't do it. Well, but you know what- You can watch a show. But what they'll do is they will binge a television show. Yeah, for like six hours. They'll sit down for five or six hours and watch a whole season of a television show. But the feeling of them having

some sort of control of them being able to like take a break between episodes because it's naturally broken up. That, I mean, that's why in theory, in theory, I know Quibi had a really bad launch, but like something like Quibi made a lot of sense on paper because it was, it was A, it was designed for mobile. I watched a couple of shows on there and like

the whole like flipping to vertical and the way that that actually changed the interact, it changed it in a way that was cooler than I expected it to be. But also the fact that, you know, depending on the show, it's like, this is broken up into bite-sized pieces, but it's telling a longer story. I mean, I didn't get into any of the content,

but I only tried a couple of things, but in theory, it made sense. It's like, let's go mobile. Let's have a bias towards vertical. Let's make it into bite-sized pieces that I don't understand. It just, they got a bunch of great talent to be in the shows and to make the shows.

All that to say is what I've observed is that the thing that you're battling is the teenage attention span. Yeah. And so board games fit right into that. I can't even get a kid to watch a movie with me. Yeah. We just watch, we're just like, I'll say,

"'Hey, let's watch a movie." And they're like, like, I'll say, hey, let's watch a movie. And they're like, eh, I'm like, okay, well, let's watch a show. They're like, all right. Well, and it's like, you know, Locke will- It's like, they'll commit, they'll commit to like 40 minutes or 60 minutes with me. And I take it personally, it's like,

that's all you can take of me. And then once that's over, it's like, I'm gonna go back in my room in order to watch- And watch something else. Watch something else without me. But the thing that Locke will do is he and his friends will, he texted me the other night with a friend

and he was like, dad, what was the name of that movie that we watched where this and that happened? I was like, sent him the text. I was like, it was this. And then I pick him up and he's like, I'm like, hey, did you watch that movie? Would you enjoy it? He says, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And I asked him about a part, he's like, we didn't finish it. Didn't finish. We didn't finish it. I'm like, what, you didn't finish the movie? I don't understand how the teenage brain works. And it wasn't because it was just like, the night was over or whatever. And it's like, we'll watch the rest of it later.

No. It's like, again, in theory, the Quibi thing makes sense. It seems like it was the answer to that, but it just didn't. It hasn't worked yet. I feel like it still will at some point. I don't know. I mean- Whoa, just, man, it just went down.

My, like, we've been rewatching, and this was Lily's idea, rewatching all the Marvel movies. She's a huge Marvel fan. And I was like, this is good. I like a game plan. The Neils are watching all the Marvel movies. We went through all the Lord of the Rings and we're watching Survivor and we're all the Lord of the Rings and we're watching Survivor

and we're watching the Lord of the Rings behind the scenes. Like we have different things that are ongoing. And that is an appeal of series. And then she kind of applied that to Marvel movies. So then it's like, we're gonna watch all of these. She's so into them. But I'm like, girl, you gotta, graduate's not the right word,

but it is what I kind of feel like. I'm a huge fan of all the Marvel movies. I love watching them, but there's something, you know, you gotta watch like good movies too. It's not what you would call classic cinema. Yeah, cinematically to some more artistic approaches to things, you know? It's like- Yeah, well, and I feel like I broke that seal.

I told you that Locke and I watched Pulp Fiction. It was like, he kept leaning over, because I remember I watched it when we were in college. And we remember, we talked about this on the show when we talked about it being our favorite movie. Yeah, it was our number one movie. And the way it transformed what we thought was possible with a movie.

So he was into it. He kept turning to me and he was just like, gosh, making those faces and saying these things like, this is so great. Like the very beginning when they're having that conversation about the Royale with cheese, he just got this smile on his face. I was like, yes, he understands.

He understands why this is good. And since then, he's, you know, we've been watching a bunch of movies from that time in my life. But still, even when, if, you know, Friday night, Saturday night rolls around and he's at home. He doesn't wanna be with you on a couch for three hours. Yeah, even though I've introduced him

to these great movies, it still is this thing that's like there's the threshold to overcome to get them to be like, yeah, I wanna sit down and devote my evening to this. Yeah. It's a lot. It's a lot to overcome. I was like, let's watch a movie. You know was like, let's watch a movie. You know what, tonight we're gonna watch a movie.

We're going to watch a movie. Lando's not here. Lando was at your house for Shepherd's birthday, just the two of them. And they watched a movie. And I was like, we can watch a movie that Lando can't watch. We're gonna watch The Revenant.

Leonardo DiCaprio is- Ooh, that's one on the list for me. This one, you know, and they were a little reticent, but I'm like, this is happening. It's a good movie, you're gonna like it. You know, it's not too long into it that there's the bear attack. The bear scene. And Lily like stands up.

And honestly, I had forgotten how traumatic, I mean, how real and relentless. I mean, I wouldn't call it a bear attack. I would call it three bear attacks. I don't know if you remember, we saw it in the theater and that was the only time I'd seen it. The bear attacks the dude three different times. And after the first time you're like, oh my gosh,

I just don't feel like I can keep watching this. I don't know if I can take this, this is so intense. And so Lily's like, I can't watch this. And you know what? She was like, You're like, sit down and watch this guy get maimed. Yeah, I was like, well, listen, I was like, but I was like, you loved us.

You like, you watch all these, you watch stuff that's just as intense. Like there was, I mean, that was real and scary, but yeah, it was- And gory. And gory, but so was Us. Us was very scary and very gory. Us is gory, yeah. And she's like, turns out it was the intensity of it,

but it was also, and she's inching her way to the door now. And she's like, I just don't wanna watch two guys chase themselves around, chase around each other on the wilderness. You know, chase themselves around the wilderness. I can't even put the sentence together, but you know what I'm saying? Chase away toward the wilderness.

I'm like, well, I'm losing this battle. But then Christy and Lincoln watched it with me. And I think Lincoln was like, that was a good movie. He watched the whole thing. We watched the whole thing. It's a long movie. It's a good movie, cinematically. I mean.

Yeah, we wanna watch that one together. Pretty mind blowing. But it's very intense. To get back to- A number of places. To games though. To get back to games for a second. We're gonna play Catan again this weekend.

I'm getting back on that horse. Now you talked about how you didn't think you would be into strategy games. Now, for the longest time, I've always just thought, man, it makes sense that you would be into strategy games and board games because there's rules and there's a system. And like, once you learn it and execute it, there are specific results.

It seems to tie into your oneness on the enneagram. I've not had a lot of experience and I think I was thrown in the deep end. I have never played Monopoly. I've never played it. We have that as a family. I told Lily that and Lily was like, dad, who are you?

I mean, how does this happen? I'm like, I was an only child. Like I didn't play, I didn't have a family. I had a mom. Like me and mom aren't gonna sit down and play Monopoly. You can't play with just two people. But this is what's always perplexing to me is that- And I didn't watch movies with my mom.

Most of the time. You know, I was just- No, but I didn't, but here's the thing. I played Monopoly as a kid, right? But my family did not play board games. Who did you play Monopoly with? It would just be like in the time between I was zero and 18, right?

And somewhere in childhood, at some point, yeah. It'd be like, you're at someone's home or you're at like your cousin's house or somebody has Monopoly and you play it. My kids have played it. I didn't seek these things out, they sought me out. I feel like you were purposely avoiding them. It has to be that there was an opportunity

and you were like, that's not for me. Has to be. I think I was in anything strategy or taking a long time, I think it was how my kids feel about movies. I felt about these games. It's like, you gotta learn a lot. You gotta like think hard and you can't let up. Like it just seems exhausting.

I'll play Connect Four. And listen, the McLaughlin's, the issue with the McLaughlin's is attention span and also adhering to a system or rules. It's very difficult because, you know, I am by far the most system oriented person in my family. And on the spectrum of people, I'm somewhere in the middle probably,

in terms of like how much system there is in my life, right? But in my family, I'm on the extreme. And so like rules and systems and having to do things in a certain way, mixed with really competitive people who don't like to lose, all of us, all four of us, it can make for an incredible time or it can make for like, somebody is gonna cry,

there's gonna be some explosiveness that happens. You know, I've seen it on Shepherd's face a number of times. You know, when you're the youngest one and you're the youngest one by five years, you know, up until pretty recently, it was like, he just doesn't have the faculties to be super competitive in some of these games, right? Yeah.

Whatever we might be playing. And so you could see that when he makes a mistake that, oh, there it is, he just lost the game. He just made a critical mistake. You get this look on his face like, I've blown it. You know what I'm saying? He's like, he wants to win so bad. And it's just like, it's only, and this is a flaw.

This is something that I've had to, I continue to work on is like, are you having fun if you don't win, right? Super competitive people have trouble having fun if they don't win? Super competitive people have trouble having fun if they're not winning. Or if they're doing something and they're like, I'm not good at this. And I don't think I'm gonna be able to be good enough

at this to be competitive in it. So I'm gonna lose interest. And so those are the kind of the factors. But I think the fact that everybody wants to win ultimately is how you get people roped into games in my family. But we started quarantine with games and they've completely fallen off. Like we were playing Scrabble.

I mean, we were Scrabbling it up. Yeah, I've never played Scrabble. Again, that's odd to me that you haven't run across a Scrabble, just a Scrabble board somewhere on the street that you just found yourself playing on. Like I didn't, I mean like grandparents never played games.

Like I don't recall, I mean like you and I, we would never play games. Like I said, we didn't have games in my house growing up. We didn't have Scrabble. I played Scrabble probably the first time as an adult because Jesse's parents had it. And they let us sit didn't have Scrabble. I played Scrabble probably the first time as an adult because Jesse's parents had it. And they let us sit down and play Scrabble and I'm like, all right, I know words.

Apparently not nearly as many as Jesse's mom. I don't think that I am, yeah, it's not really about am I competitive or not, there's also a second factor along with that that's like the group dynamic. Yeah, trying to set the scene for a family memory. Well, I'm saying, yes. I think I'm most interested in that with my family

and none of us are that competitive. Like nobody gets that upset about winning or losing or anything, at least at this point. Maybe we'll get more competitive, but we'll be on that journey together. I think that I was turned off by being in environments where people were a lot more competitive

and then you just start to feel stupid. It's kind of embarrassing. Like it's a bad feeling when people know how to play. Like Shepherd's experience, I think that was part of my experience. I'm like, I don't want to have that. I don't want to look like a dummy in front of everybody who's played Monopoly

their whole life. So it's like, I'm not, you know, so, and then that might come out as I'm not competitive. So again, I can't even tell, like I actually don't. Well, there is a difference because with Shepherd, what he'll want to do is he'll wanna play, let's start over or let's play tomorrow night. So he doesn't be like,

I don't wanna play this game again, cause I lost, he's like, I wanna play this game again because I lost. But I don't think, so I'm trying to set the stage for I actually don't think I'm competitive. You think I'm competitive. I think I don't, I think there's something that you're interpreting as I'm deep down competitive,

but I think I'm interested in something different. I think- Not looking stupid. I think when the stage is set, right? And we're doing something that you feel confident in, like you're like, I understand this game and I have reason to believe that I am just as good or better at the people that I'm playing against. I think when the setting is right,

when the circumstances are right, you want to win as much as I want to win. I think the difference is, is that if I enter a situation and I'm not good at something, I have to really resist the urge to, like, okay, with poker, for instance, like, you know, I started playing poker with my wife's family long time ago, like early in our marriage.

And like, it got competitive really quickly. And I'm like, if I'm going to have a chance of winning at this, I gotta understand it. So I went and got all these books about poker and like read all these strategy about poker because it was instead of like, you know what? When you guys play poker, I'm not gonna be a part of it, which is what you might do.

I'm just like, which it was probably ultimately more healthy because I'm just wasting time learning how to play poker. Into one sense, I'm not gonna be like a professional poker player. But then I'm like, and even like within the past couple of years, I'll find myself thinking like, I need to get a book on chess because I've never really gotten good at chess.

No, I don't, I don't actually. I mean, maybe if I want to, and I think it would be fun to learn, but not just so I could have like beat somebody at chess. But I don't, I've just observed, like even the games we play on GMM, like the guessing, the countdown game, you get super competitive in that game because...

I believe I have a chance. Yeah, because you're really good at that game. Or like the Pup Pup game, I'm like, hey, this is a new one. I don't have to lose every time. But then at a certain point with like, I lose this dart game every time. It's like, well, that's kind of frustrating

because I feel like I do try on that one. I'm not great at aim, but yeah, it's like. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's nothing to be ashamed of. I think we're at extremes because I think that the thing that could be wrong with it is not willing to try something and get better at something in order to enjoy, like the competition part of it is, I mean,

if you can only point to one example or two examples on the show, given all the things we compete against, it's just not the thing I'm most interested in. So I don't think, I'm certainly not competitive to the same level that you are, because I'm not interested in winning. I think what I'm getting at is, once the circumstances are set

and you're committed to the game, I can see in your eyes that you want to win. That is very rare. I think it takes a lot for the circumstances to be right. I'm just saying in those moments. And so- But yeah, but I'm generally not competitive. But there-

Like sports, uh-uh. But there are people- Like games, uh-uh. But there are people. Like games, uh-uh. But there are people who, okay, catchphrase. You are super competitive in catchphrase. I think it's, I think it's- And there are people who aren't. I think you're misinterpreting that.

I think it's fun to be really into it, like the theatricality of it, but I don't really care if I win or lose. Like a lot of times when I play catchphrase, I'll like, I'll give clues in a very weird way because I just think it's fun. And because there's a timer, I'm like, and it's gonna go, I don't believe, I'm early on.

But there's also a strategy in that. I'm all right. Doing weird clues early on in the clock is that there's a strategy because then you give it to the next person and there's less time. And then they get frustrated and it's funny to watch them get upset,

but it's not about winning or losing. It's just about the social dynamics are amusing or entertaining to me. I've known people who I would say are truly not competitive. Like you can tell that they really, at no point do they get engaged to the point where they would actually really wanna win.

It's like, I don't, and I just, I'm saying that, okay, I will definitely can see that you're not as competitive as me, but you're more competitive than you give yourself credit. I think I'm adaptable to sometimes when people are competitive and that's how they're having a good time. Like it's not fun to be,

it's a killjoy to not participate. And the way you participate, because you're competitive, I think you're misinterpreting me as being competitive when I'm just being playful. Like I'm actually like, I'm here to play. I'm here, I want to contribute to the fun that's being had and the climate is competition.

But I personally am not driven, I'm driven by having a good time. And I know I can either be competitive and that will be fun for everybody or I'll be the person who's not and then it's a Debbie Downer, it destroys it. So when you do something well, and don't think about,

I think you're also isolating it to games, but like anything well, anything that you do in your career, like I'm trying to do this well, I'm trying to be a certain way about this, I'm trying to create this piece of, I guess my definition of competition is just much wider as well.

Okay. Because what I'm saying is, I feel like competitiveness is one of the elements that has gotten us to where we're at in our career. Like, and it is, I don't mean like, ooh, I wanna get more views than this other channel. I mean, sometimes it might come down to that, but it's not really that.

It's more like I'm competing against myself. Like, ultimately everybody wants to be important in some way, right? And people who are in entertainment kind of achieve that and find their purpose a lot of times in, you know, eliciting a reaction from people. And I would say that you are actually even more focused and committed to getting a reaction from a crowd

or from a individual than I am. You think about like the way that you're super, you know, I'm much less concerned about things like, where is this thing and where's the camera? And am I showing, am I opening this box in the right way? In my mind, that's all competitive nature. It's like, you have a commitment to excellence and you're thinking about competitiveness

and like I'm throwing a ball faster than a person or not, but like you actually care about that stuff more than I do. And I would call that sort of, I would almost say it's a relentless pursuit of doing things in a certain way. Perfection is not, I mean, is attained by comparison to like a standard. Yes.

But I think it's a stretch to say that that's competition. Like I'm competing against the standard. Now, I also think it's a little muddied by, I don't know, do you get from me in this conversation that I judge you for being competitive? Yes. Okay, so we're breaking in.

Kiko, I don't envy what the decisions you've had to make in editing this, but apparently Kiko, I don't envy what the decisions you've had to make in editing this, but apparently Kiko has decided that what you just heard was like the truncated point and the end of this episode. And the reason being. And then next week you'll get the continuation for over an hour of the rest of our conversation, which like veer deep into introspection

and arguments and an apology. I'm sensationalizing it, because I really do want you to- It got very deep. I want them to listen to part two, but, and, you know, because I think it's, I'm gonna be thinking a lot about it.

Just to set the stage, because you're gonna have to wait a week to listen to it. So as you know, we were talking about board games. And I've talked about this many times. I've talked about my theory that Link is just as competitive as me, in quotes. And that led to a conversation. And I've never liked it when you said that.

And I don't know exactly why. About, boy, it just got very deep. It got very personal, very vulnerable from both sides. And we ended up talking about the dynamics of our friendship and our creative partnership and how we think differently about it and how we think the same about it.

And I just didn't want that conversation to get buried at the end of an entire episode about something else, about board games and movies and our kids. So you may be frustrated with us that we're making you wait another week for it, but we poured a lot of ourselves into it and I don't want it to get buried and- And not to be competitive,

but if you're frustrated, you can direct your frustration at Link because this was his idea. I don't like having a two and a half hour podcast when it's like- I believe this is the right choice actually. And it puts something front and center that we want the most people to listen to

and not lose heart before they get to it. And it allows us to not have to sit down and record another episode. Which is always good. So it's a win-win. So stay tuned to next week for that. But for now, use hashtag Ear Biscuits. Let us know about board games.

I mean, we've just finished having the part of the conversation you're going to next week. So it's like, know about board games. I mean, we've just finished having the part of the conversation you're going to next week. So it's like, this is so strange. I think we said some good things about board games. Yeah, and- Is it Catan or Catan? You could tell us about that. You know.

I'm sure you would like to recommend board games to us or any type of family oriented games that we can continue to borrow. Or non-family, just ones where you put the kids to bed and things get dirty. Those are good games too. Hashtag Ear Biscuits and we will speak at you next week, which will be the continuation.

But we're about to record an intro for that that makes sense of it. Yeah. There's lots of different pieces here. Let's do that now.