Board Games, Business, and Gen Con 2016 Ep. 84

In this episode… Jeff, Lee, and Kyle attend Gen Con 2016 in Indianapolis Indiana! Interviews include Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me, Chris Matthew from Panda Game Manufacturing, Chevee Dodd from Portal Games, Jason Kotarski of Green Couch Games, game designer Matt Worden, Stephanie Straw, and others I can’t immediately remember without listening to the […]

In this episode…

Jeff and Lee seizing an opportunity to make me look stupid.

Jeff, Lee, and Kyle attend Gen Con 2016 in Indianapolis Indiana! Interviews include Chris Kirkman of Dice Hate Me, Chris Matthew from Panda Game Manufacturing, Chevee Dodd from Portal Games, Jason Kotarski of Green Couch Games, game designer Matt Worden, Stephanie Straw, and others I can’t immediately remember without listening to the audio again!

Indianapolis is four and a half hours away from our hometown of Grand Rapids Michigan. While driving any distance over an hour is not enjoyable, we consider ourselves lucky that Gen Con is as close as it is. This podcast episode begins on our drive to Gen Con, a drive made painless by how often we can make each other laugh.

After making it into the city, we picked up our badges and got a bite to eat at “Harry and Izzy’s,” which ended up being a “ball so hard” lunch after seeing the expensive bill we accumulated. After giggling the bill off, we walked to the Gen Con vendor hall to meticulously go down every aisle and look at everything (which is necessary and awesome). At that time, we ran into many of this episodes guests and Jeff bought “Tides of Madness” from Chevee Dodd at the Portal Games booth.

Dinner was enjoyed at Ram Brewery with Grand Gaming Academy’s Marc Specter and Roxy Casanova. Afterward we all walked over to the hotel Plaid Hat Games was staying at to hang with Colby Dauch and play games. A notable game of the night was Grand Gamers Guild’s freshman release, “Unreal Estate,” which is getting a formal Kickstarter project in the next couple months. (excited noises)

Keeping the TC Petty selfie tradition a thing.

Our last day was spent getting more interviews for this episode and discussing how we wish the trip could last for-ev-er. Gen Con 2016 was a terrific event and the three of us left with a reignited love of board games, but most importantly a love for the awesome people in our industry. We hope you enjoy the episode!

Company Updates

We have improved the selection and shirt quality in the Happy Mitten Podcast Store. Our shirts are all blended fabrics and super comfortable now. Life is too short to clothe our bodies in cotton alone! Success means more fabrics. Check out the store and our new designs HERE.

Mentioned Links

Grand Gamers Guild Facebook

Tides of Madness

Dice Hate Me

Panda Game Manufacturing

Portal Games

Green Couch Games

Matt Worden Games

Stephanie Straw Twitter

Colby Dauch, King of Plaid Hat Games who bows down to no man. Check out all of his company’s games.
“Unreal Estate” by Grand Gamers Guild. On Kickstarter soon!
Top Deck promotional department was given a blank check for their “Legendary: Big Trouble in Little China” release.