Summary: <br> <br> <br> <br> <br> This week, we are joined by Mik and Starla from <a href="https://www.youtube.com/ourfamilyplaysgames">Our Family Plays Games</a>!<br> <br> <br> <br> But first, a word from our sponsor, <a href="http://firstmovefinancial.com/familygamers" rel="sponsored nofollow">First Move Financial</a> – and it ties in with the number 199!<br> <br> <br> <br> We find out that Grant (Mik & Starla’s son) edits all their videos! Wow, he’s doing a great job.<br> <br> <br> <br> What have you been playing lately?<br> <br> <br> <br> Suburbia (Bezier Games)<br> <br> <br> <br> Everdell (Starling Games)<br> <br> <br> <br> Unmatched: Cobble & Fog (Restoration Games), and Unmatched: Bigfoot & Robin Hood<br> <br> <br> <br> We got a little off the rails here…<br> <br> <br> <br> Champions of Midgard<br> <br> <br> <br> Lords of Waterdeep<br> <br> <br> <br> Roll Player<br> <br> <br> <br> Following last week’s episode, our kids have been asking to play Toasted or Roasted (Education Outdoors)<br> <br> <br> <br> The Kids of Carcassonne – the more we play it, the more we like it.<br> <br> <br> <br> Quacks of Quedlinburg<br> <br> <br> <br> Terra Mystica (find it <a href="https://boardgamearena.com/gamepanel?game=terramystica">on Board Game Arena</a>)<br> <br> <br> <br> Rock Paper Switch<br> <br> <br> <br> <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/valley-of-the-vikings/"></a><br> <br> <br> <br> SNAP Review – Valley of the Vikings<br> <br> <br> <br> What do Vikings, bowling, and falling off a dock have to do with collecting coins? We don’t know either, but they all go together in Valley of the Vikings from HABA. See pictures and read the transcript at the <a href="http://www.thefamilygamers.com/valley-of-the-vikings/">SNAP review page</a>.<br> <br> <br> <br> Our Family Plays Games<br> <br> <br> <br> Mik and Starla have been posting weekly videos for about six months now.<br> <br> <br> <br> They started playing modern hobby board games around seven years ago. They were tired of playing the same old Monopoly, Sorry, etc. with their son. So Mik started researching other games online. They started with Forbidden Island, only to discover that Starla doesn’t like cooperative games. Then they found Catan, and that was the gateway to trying lots of other games.<br> <br> <br> <br> Why did you start making videos?<br> <br> <br> <br> It started with a Facebook page. Mik and Starla were going to meet-ups and conventions, but weren’t seeing people who looked like them. “When you see people who look like you, you get that comfortable feeling. You feel happy, you feel OK.” Living in Texas, the reception of black people in larger gaming groups was mixed.<br> <br> <br> <br> They made a few great friends who helped them feel welcome anyway. But as they continued to reach out, they couldn’t find many content creators who were focused on gaming as a family or people of color. So they decided to start their own Youtube channel that combined both, and be a resource for people of color who are looking for more about board gaming.<br> <br> <br> <br> Their goal is to get more people of color to enjoy this hobby, which is so valuable to keep families together.<br> <br> <br> <br> Andrew & Anitra really connected with the video series called “Beyond Monopoly”. We talk about what prevents people from joining the larger gaming community.<br> <br> <br> <br> “There’s not enough designers who look like us, there’s not enough boxes that look like us… not enough games that represent our stories.”Mik<br> <br> <br> <br> “We want all of those views to have an opportunity to be shared.”Starla<br>
