About a year ago, I finished shooting the first season of my show Tabletop, and had a few weeks off before we began editing the games we played into hopefully entertaining television.
I don’t remember what I did during those weeks — probably slept a whole lot — but when we got into editing, I clearly remember how terrified I was that the show wouldn’t work. The first cut of the first episode was (following my direction) too long, tough to follow, and just not as interesting as I wanted it to be. Luckily, Felicia Day was in the edit bay with me, and she knew exactly how to fix it. She gave notes and advice to the editor (who was amazing), and when we came back two days later to watch the second cut, it was an entirely different show. It was funny, it was entertaining, it captured how much fun it was to play the game. It was what I had always hoped Tabletop would be.
For the next few weeks, we cut the entire season, three episodes at a time, with three amazing and talented editors. By the time we got to the end of everything, we almost knew what we were doing!
As we got closer and closer to the premiere, I kept looking for the familiar nervous anxiety about how people would react, but it wasn’t ever there. I believed in the show in a way I’d never really been able to believe in myself, and I just wanted to share it with the world.
Tabletop’s premiere was a huge success that exceeded my wildest dreams. I think we got close to half a million views almost immediately, and the feedback was overwhelmingly positive. My friend John Rogers says that you should expect comments to be weighted 3:1 in favor of people hating on a thing, because someone who loves a thing goes “I loved that! I guess I’ll go back to my life now!” instead of going “I loved that! NOW I WILL ENGAGE ALL CAPS TO TELL THE PERSON WHO MADE IT HOW MUCH I LOVED IT.” Even with that adjustment, we were at like 10:1 positives to negatives.
As the season unfolded, I began to hear from game shop owners. When we played a game on Tabletop, it sold out. I heard from designers that when we played their games, they sold thousands and thousands of them. I heard from a distributor that one of the games we played sold out and had to go into a new printing — they thought 30,000 copies of the game would be enough, and they were wrong.
But the most amazing thing, that I didn’t even expect or think about even a little bit, were the personal stories from people who had been inspired to start up their own game nights with their friends and families because of Tabletop. One father told me that his tween kids spent every evening in front of their own computers or televisions, and after dinner he pretty much didn’t see his family until breakfast. But after watching Tabletop together, the kids were inspired to start a family game night. Tabletop, he told me, literally brought his family closer together.
There are dozens of parents of special needs children who have emailed me or talked to me at conventions, thanking me for giving them something that helps their children.
I even heard from a guy who felt like his marriage was drifting apart until he watched Tabletop with his wife and they started playing games together.
My ulterior motive with this show has always been to make more gamers by showing how much fun it is to play games, and I’m pretty confident that I can declare that effort an unqualified success.
Next week, we’re playing the Dragon Age RPG, and it will be the last two episodes of this season. We filmed it over a year ago, and I haven’t looked at it in almost as long. I don’t remember what happens, but I do remember how much fun it was to play with Chris Hardwick, Sam Witwer and Kevin Sussman in a game that was run by its designer, Chris Pramas. I’m excited for everyone to see it, but also a little sad that the season is coming to an end, because I don’t know if and when new episodes will air.
Tabletop means more to me than I ever thought it would, and the community that has grown around it makes me incredibly proud, but I didn’t do Tabletop alone. We had an incredible crew who could film people playing games in a visually interesting way. We had an incredible director who kept us together and focused on what was important. We had friends who came to play with me just because I asked, and game publishers who took a chance on our show without knowing exactly what it would end up being. I had an incredible creative partner in Felicia Day. I had a tremendously talented team of producers who pulled together an equally talented team of editors, who are the true unsung heroes of this entire effort.
And then there’s the community, which is as much a part of the success of Tabletop as anything. Whether you’re posting in the Geek and Sundry forums, sharing your stories and pictures on the Seen on Tabletop Tumblr I made, talking about games we played at Board Game Geek, or actually playing games with people who are important to you, you’re part of something wonderful.
So thank you for watching, and until next time … play more games.
Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
Okay, I admit it. I got a little something in both my eyes while ready things.
No, thank YOU, Wil. Yet another parent here that started a weekly game night because of you, and my 13 year old daughter’s life – and ours – is/are far, far better for it. Well done. Have a burrito.
I know you have no control over whether there will be a season 2 or not, but I’m going to throw my two-cents in, with an 80’s song reference. I think Billy Idol said it best, “I want More, More, More!”.
Oh, and a favor, the next time in your in San Diego, at Mysterious Galaxy, doing a reading; walk a few doors down to Game Empire and ask them why they don’t have a TableTop shrine set up. I’m constantly disappointed that they’ve not jumped on the TableTop band wagon. I’d rather support my local gaming store, but they never have any of the TableTop games in there. LOL.
Sadly, I have visited a couple of stores who are unhappy that TableTop is making all of these games more popular… As if having more people play them makes them less cool.
You gotta stop shopping in the Hipster District.
I didn’t think I was… I went to the only game store in my hometown (Salt Lake City, UT), and one of two remaining in Houston, TX….
My game store runs Table Top on a TV throughout the day. Make me smile. Not to mention Target carrying many of the games too. Yeah I am a happy camper down here in Vegas.
Are you sure you were at a gaming STORE? Because being pissed about exchanging goods for money seems to be an odd way to look at one’s own business.
Now I totally want to make a “Hipster Quest” game.
You would have ‘thing’ cards to play, and modifier (adjective) cards you could play on things, so you might end up with “Biodegradable” “Fair-Trade” “Cellphone” or “Independent” “Recycled” “Pizza” or whatever. And the more turns you are into a thing, the more points it is worth when the game ends, but if something you are into ends up in play in the center of the table (as an ‘in’ thing), you lose all hipster cred and are out of the game. So you want to be ‘into’ something as long as possible, but get out before it becomes popular.
Hrm…
Sounds good; there should be an “ironic” card that lets you start accumulating points (from zero) for something that’s now “in”. You can’t keep your original “cred” points, but you get new ones for being into it ironically.
If Youtube is so foolishly short-sighted that they do not renew TableTop for a second season, i have very little doubt that a KickStarter or the like would be wildly successful. You might even get enough money to give away trophies. 🙂
I think you should continue to make the show, even if youtube doesn’t “renew” you for another season. I think you have built a loyal audience, and we would still log in somewhere to the show, even if it included ads to generate the needed revenue. You’ve got a great product, and there should always be a market as long as you want to keep providing it.
Hey Wil, I want to personally thank you and the Geek & Sundry crew. I have two kids on the autism spectrum and we school them at home because public school couldn’t meet their needs. Socialization is always an issue as it is for probably many young geeks.
We started running game nights on Fridays for this purpose and Tabletop is a huge inspiration. Watching ten teen and pre-teen kids with a variety of interests playing board games is a sight to behold. On your show my kids also get to see geeky grownups who are just like them having fun and having successful careers while just being themselves. I can’t underestimate how much of a big deal this is to their growth as human spawn.
Thank you,
J
” I’m excited for everyone to see it, but also a little sad that the season is coming to an end, because I don’t know if and when new episodes will air.”
I can understand that there are no guarantees in a business like this but I have to wonder, with as popular as the show was, why there would be any serious doubt about a second season. Just seems like people wouldn’t consider the series a “chance” to take any more.
At any rate, I really hope there is a second season. I would definitely watch it and I’d probably end up buying a lot more games because of it. I would like to see some more varied group sizes, just to get an idea of what sorts of games are good for pairs or large parties, but even if nothing changes, I would still tune in every week that the show is on.
It’s just really hard to find good, quality television like Tabletop now and I like the accessibility that a youtube show has. I think you guys have something good and should pursue it.
The show is really great, and I hope it’s able to return. I find Tabletop to be a fun primer on these kind of games: I get a good idea of how they play and what they are about, and it’s an easy way to discover the kind of games I’m into!
Let me be the first “You Should Play X” and recommend a session with the two-player-only game Morels. This would be for if you ever found yourself without enough guests for a show. 🙂 It’s a really fun card-type game where two people are “walking” through the woods, collecting mushrooms, and gathering points by doing so.
I got a little teary eyed reading this.
I’d award you an internet but it doesn’t seem like enough.
How about I award you a happy and fulfilling life.
Oops… too late.
As a retailer of games I can tell you that I think that TableTop is the best thing to happen to gaming in a long, long time. You all have done a fabulous job in showing people how fun gaming can be and I really hope that we’ll see not only a second season but many more to come.
BTW – You used to come in to The Last Grenadier when I worked there and Magic: The Gathering was new. You were a nice kid and I couldn’t believe that you were willing to subject yourself to the crowds and grimy back rooms to get your ass handed to you in the game. Glad to know that you made something of yourself. lol!
This is probably the best “show’ on Youtube. If my kids know I am watching it they coming racing down and jump on my lap to watch it. And as soon as its over they want to race out and get the latest game you’ve played.
I’m watching it because I have an interest in gaming and the entertainer you are and the entertainment you and your crew have put together. They are entertained by you and introducing them to all these new games they get to see. Long live Tabletop
Thank you Wil, you have changed my family, 3 generations worth, with TableTop. We are going to get together with my parents, and siblings and my son to play games we watched you play tonight.
While I’ve know about Munchkin for years we didn’t own Munchkin until my 9 year old son “insisted” we buy it. It has also shown him what it looks like to lose a game and still have fun. That is such a hard lesson and it sucks to learn it from your parents but to watch people you admire lose and still enjoy the game that was powerful.
Soon we are going to embark on playing a paper RPG, Pathfinder, with him and I think he is ready and I know he will be and he will be insisting on it after watching you play Dragon Age.
So Thank you again, really.
Wil, I have to saw I was glad to see Tabletop show up when it did and while I know you’d argue hindsight is 20/20, I knew it was going to do what it did. You offer a really easily digestible (20-30 minutes!) episode that a) demos the game in the only way possible that really sells the game to just about anybody and b) truly entertain with the variety of guests and the banter (or table smashing as the case may be–hah!).
I’m glad it’s having a positive effect on game stores and board game designers. I liken it to how the video game industry went from being some sort of peripheral business (I remember buying my games at the friggin STATIONARY store…no one knew how to sell software, let alone games) and is now this crazy big industry nipping at the heels of the music and film industries. My hope is it’ll just help feed a sort of feedback loop that’ll add more gamers who’ll bring in more gamers, etc. (i.e. Network Effect) and bring board gaming back from the Monopoly brink.
By the way, one bonus with board games is that they’re definitely more of a social activity which tends to fit well with our need to be social, more so than the one-on-one relationship we usually have with our computer or console.
Lastly, and I’m sure you’ve got plenty to do but someone’s gotta wish for this, I would love it if you could figure out a way to put together some RPG episodes. I know an RPG takes a lot more time to run through properly but I figure, similar to the great PAX D&D Adventure, I think it’d be great to show off maybe one RPG a season with episodes sprinkled throughout the season. You’d even get to do a “Previously, our heroes were dangling from a cliff as thousands of tiny gremlins descended upon them clutching tiny daggers and trying to find any electronics they could destroy…” 🙂
When TT premiered and I discovered that it would be biweekly, I thought the most natural way to fill the gap week would be a multi-part D&D run; serialized like old-school Doctor Who episodes. Hopefully WHEN Tabletop is renewed, something like this could happen.
Thanks to Wil and Tabletop, I now have a large collection of games to play with family and friends. I even had to buy a second copy of Zombie Dice because my mother claimed the first one after we played it at Christmas.
So what can we all do to make sure there’s another season of TableTop? I’ve already liked all the episodes.
Do you need a corporate sponsor? What, what, what I ask you!
Thank you Wil and the crew of Tabletop.
I was unemployed and in a really tough spot (financially) for a while during the fall. For a single person who is living alone that can really be a lonely time. All that crap made me kind of blue and apathetic, not really having energy to enjoy life while worrying about paying the bills and being quite lonely and tired. Then a friend on FB shared Tabletop with me. I checked it out, and during the following days and weeks I watched all the episodes there was to watch. It really was a positive boost for me. The episodes, full of fun and warmth, really made me feel better.
Since then I got a job and am feeling like a million bucks. I re-introduced my family to playing board games, and introduced an old, dear gaming friend to a bunch of new games (seen on Tabletop!) that we now play as often as we have the chance to meet. I also got the chance to get back into RPG:s and attend my first proper RPG-campaign.
So thanks for everything, I hope you will be able to make a new season. Now, if you’ll excuse me I will go and open the new package of Gloom-cards I bought today… (And of course like, favourite and share all of your videos, so that you will get another season!)
Let me just say, we have bought several games based on watching tabletop, have had a few episodes of nerdrage when our local game shops haven’t had them and have had the response of “we haven’t carried that in years” and “what is this TableTop internet show you speak of” (of course we then excitedly share the information, which I hope in turn helps the game shops know what they must stock, or they will lose sales to the internet.) We have even started having somewhat regular game nights at our house again, simply because we have now expanded our repertoire with enough interesting games to make it worth it, all thanks to your show.
I admit, I am old enough to have been a big Wesley Crusher fan and had more than a few of the Teen Bop (etc etc) posters of you on my walls as a girl and still watch TNG reruns on occasion.
However, seeing your work as an adult, unfortunately all through the web (I didn’t know you were here in Portland with Paul and Storm until after the fact *sob*) I am so much more of a fan now than I ever was then, with out the whole creepy teenage obsession thing going on. I think every adult has their “person I’d most like to meet/have dinner with/etc” list. You are definitely the person I would most like to just hang out with. Ok, silly fan girl time over with. Although my boyfriend agrees with me, that it seems like you’d be a lot of fun to hang out with too, so that doesn’t make me feel quite as weird about it, lol.
I definitely hope that your show (and all of Geek and Sundry) get picked up for season 2, or I will be very very sad.
Because of the episode when you were playing Munchkin i bought the game and have been having a blast.
Wait, what? Not sure if there’s going to be more Tabletop after this season ends? Say it ain’t so, Wil!
Tabletop has been pretty important to me and my family. When I first heard about the show when it started, I zipped over to watch it because hey! Wil Wheaton + games must equal awesome, right? And it was. So I sent a link off to my ex, knowing that he’d get a kick out of it to – he was always big into games, and anything to keep our good rapport going after the split was like gold, since our teen daughter lives with him.
It paid off – we devoured each episode when it came out, and he ran to our local game store and picked up a copy of whatever it was you were showing. It didn’t take too much convincing to get the kid involved, and she was the most enthusiastic of all of us. Anything to get her family spending time together was a good thing.
So every visit we break out a game. Fluxx is one of our standards – fast-paced and extremely fun, in any of the half-dozen flavors we own (Space, Zombie and Monty Python are our favorites). Munchkin was a huge hit, too., as was Settlers of Catan. The board game we’ve played the most, though, is Elder Sign – we all like it kind of creepy, and the cooperative element means everyone’s involved all the time, and no hard feelings at the end!
This past Christmas was the Geektastic Gaming Christmas, with Ticket To Ride, Dixit, Last Night On Earth, Gloom, Zombie Dice. Next on my personal hitlist is a copy of Pandemic – I rewatched that episode recently, and remembered how much fun you guys had losing!
Soon, my daughter, roommate and I will be working Katsucon in DC, and we’re definitely bringing games with us to keep us amused during downtimes, and to share the gaming love with our friends.
So what I should really be asking at this point is this: What’s it going to take for us to insure a new season of Tabletop? Do we have to write or call someone, get something Kickstarted?
Thanks for sharing your love of gaming with all of us. My wife still looks at me sideways when I talk about it, but my 2 boys love playing the games I’ve gotten – Heroica, Tsuro, Forbidden Island, Ticket to Ride, and Munchkin.
Here’s hoping for many more seasons of TableTop!
Wil Wheaton wipe that thought right out of your head. This show must go on, How else will I fill my amazon wish list with amazing games? Go find them myself? Poppycock.
Congrats on the success of the show! As a register biscuit who works at a game store, I’ve seen the impact this show has on sales at locally owned businesses. I discovered FIASCO! because of your show and ran my first session at me friends birthday party! I even appreciate your staff who answered so quickly with my emails. I hope we can work together again on making in-store gaming a better experience and help grow games to a level of entertainment that it is in Europe.
Allons-Y!
Unlike many others, I can’t say the show has got me playing more tabletop games. I wish I could say that it did but unfortunately I have nobody to play with and there are no game shops where I live to find people to play with.
However, I absolutely love watching the show and never miss an episode. Not only is it fun to watch to watch, but I really love getting to see the personalities of the actors/actresses that I have come to really enjoy on tv.
I really hope the show gets another season because it deserves it!
Thanks for making TableTop for us all! I’ve loved almost 😉 every episode and acquired loads more boardgames because of it. I hope you get picked up for another season, we’re eagerly awaiting more stuff like this!
Wil, thank you for doing what you’ve done with Table Top. It has enriched our family nights at Castle Horton in many ways (I’m even building a game table to closely resemble the one used in the show).
Thank you for gaming. Thanks to Felicia Day and everyone else that has helped with the show.
You and I are about the same age and I grew up in a very small town that really didn’t have much access to the larger world of geekdom that, unbeknowst to me at the time, was developing around me. Now in my early 40’s, thanks to the magic of the internet and to people like you, I feel as though I’m getting a second shot to live those magical gaming years again. Sappy I know but there it is. Thank you for being part of that. Thank you for reviving that spirit.
Table Top is something that I hope can continue. I’d happily pay a subscription fee or make donations if it would help the show continue. I say that because most folks, myself included, pay for bazillion channels on TV and watch 5 of them. I’d happily pay to have this “channel” that I love.
Regards!
I just want to say thank you, Wil. I have a very small collection of close friends who all live in a different city and have families of their own. It’s hard to find time to get together. Your show inspired me to start my own game night where we meet once a week, play games, have a ton of fun, and catch up on everything. It also allowed me to spend more time with my brother whom I’ve never really shared similar interests with. I’ve been buying games featured on your show that seem fun to me and one of my friends has even started buying some too. My favorite so far is Smallworld, though I’ve yet to win a game. Tomorrow night we’ll be trying out Castle Ravenloft and the Star Trek edition of Settlers of Catan. Should be a lot of fun.
Anyway, I look forward to watching many more episodes of Tabletop and all the other great shows at Geek & Sundry. Please don’t ever stop making them.
We love Tabletop! And we are hoping for a second season too. Our games shelf and our family game night has been wonderfully influenced this year. I don’t think we (the parents) would have been near as confident taking on new games without the boost of courage that Tabletop gave us. The children in our house thank you muchly for this!
Wil, TableTop has been a hit with me and my wife, I really hope you make more even if YouTube doesn’t pick you up. Before TableTop I actually disliked board games, having grown up on Monopoly and the like (save for maybe the Raiders of the Lost Ark board game, which was awesome!). But the games you chose for TableTop really piqued my interest, and before you know it the wife and I started playing a couple of the games. We enjoyed ourselves so much, this last Christmas culminated in me getting 7 of the games you featured on your show! It’s been a blast thus far and it’s all because of you and your show. Keep on keepin on, with or without YouTube.
With games as pricey as they are (Ticket to Ride topping $50) Table Top has been invaluable for seeing how a games plays before buying. It will be a huge loss for more than a few reasons if Table Top ends (and all we are left with is that NBC knockoff….)
Assuming you get a second season (which probably “Wil” happen), i got an idea for a special: showcase an acquisitions INC. adventure on tabletop! if there´s an adventure happening at PAX, you could get in a prelude adventure as a season premiere or finale, depending on when it airs. i think it would be an awesome episode to watch, and i´m sure you could borrow chris, mike, scott, and jerry for an afternoon. You do an awesome series, and i sincerely hope you “Wil” be able to get another season.
Wil, I follow you on twitter, I’ve read your blogs, I watch your shows. Your tagline on your twitter page fits. “I’m just this guy you know..” Zaphod, nice to see you again, the 3rd arm really suits you.. 😉
You remind me of a good friend, he has your sense of humor. Anyway, your show Tabletop reminds me of what I’ve missed since life changes forced me to move away from my circle of friends. All the insanity, jokes, and overall silliness. It’s nice to see it and remember. The range of guest players you’ve had have been amazing. Dude, seriously, Rod Roddenberry, Mike Morhaime from WOW, and all the rest. Unfrelling real..
You’ve done what Zaphod did, you’re in all points of the universe, at the same time. Nice one 🙂
I don’t have any stories to share, yet, and the only games I’ve ever really played and enjoyed were Scrabble and Clue. I’m almost 60. But I would love nothing more than for my grandkids to become gamers. So I did just want to let you know that when you recommended Forbidden Island not long ago, I took notice, and ordered it for my granddaughter’s tenth birthday next week. Hope you get another season!
I’m such a huge DA nerd that I was more excited hearing about the upcoming RPG session than I was touched by his retrospective on series. Here’s hoping for a third season!
My family is yet another that has been playing more games together because of Tabletop! We bought Tsuro first, and then got Ticket to Ride for Christmas. We brought it to a friend’s house for New Year’s Eve and had four kids and four adults, playing in teams, all having a great time! That family bought the European edition, so we’re hoping to get together soon and play, and my girls have Get Bit and Settlers of Catan next on our list. It’s been a wonderful family activity for us, and I don’t think it would have happened without Tabletop. We would have had no idea how to “graduate” past Monopoly and Clue, and I’m so glad we have! Keeping fingers crossed for a second season…..
I would love to see a second season of TableTop as well. Throwing my vote in now for Survive! Escape from Atlantis. I believe it fulfills all of our criteria. Thanks so much!
Coincidentally, a year ago is when I and five of my coworkers at this university library established our weekly gaming lunch routine. Almost every Friday since then we have tried fitting at least one board game into the hour, with only a few titles repeated.
We’re clearly not alone. Your show could not have been more well-timed. It seems like all across the country, if not the world, gamers are setting aside their devices for some old-fashioned face time. I even got my 13 yr old son, who is trying hard to be a jock, to find some love for Munchkin (provided he gets to use the boon provided by his iPod app).
Even I had only rediscovered the world of board gaming in the last couple years and can’t believe all the fun I’d been missing out on! Thank you for a job well done and I really hope you can manage a second season, somewhere in between all your assorted endeavors.
I AM ENGAGING THE ALL CAPS LOCK TO TELL YOU HOW WONDERFUL AND AMAZING TABLETOP IS!! Seriously though, it would be a sad day if Tabletop had to end. All the unicorns would die… all of them. And who wants to live in a world without Tabletop or unicorns?
Hahahaha. Epic comment is epic!
I certainly wouldn’t want to live in that world.
My reaction to this post was a little backward … because my crazy capslock was, “CHRIS HARDWICK SAM WITWER NEXT WEEK OMG …”
My friend gave me a verbal equivalent of a raised eyebrow. But YAY TABLETOP! I’ve been obsessively playing Elder Sign: Omens on my phone since I discovered it was available for iDevices. Catan is also available, as is Dixit and Zombie Dice.
In that increasingly miniscule thing called Free Time, I’ve been inspired to get my friends together for Geeky Game Nights. The aforementioned friend is the one who has ALL THE GAMES, but he bought Elder Sign specifically for the first Geeky Game Night. Somehow, we still haven’t played. I have Munchkin Deluxe plus Unnatural Axe and Guild expansions. We’ve played Star Fluxx and Munchkin.
So thank you Wil, for creating something so awesome and unbelievably catching.
Wil, I want to personally thank you and everybody who works on the show with you and made this whole thing possible. Not enough can be said about the impact the show has on everyone I know who’s seen it.
Because of this show, my wife and I now drive back to Quebec from NH(4.5 hours drive) every 4 weeks to play D&D 2e and other tabletop games with my friends(who all live an hour away from where we play) and family back home. It has made a huge difference for me and allowed me, no, actually it gave me a reason to go back and see friends and family on a regular basis(rather than every 6 months or once a year).
It brought me back closer to those people who I’ve left behind when I moved to the US and I honestly can’t stress how much impact the show has had in making this possible. I get to hang out with my childhood friends every month to play games some of these guys used to think were for only for “nerds” and we’re having a blast doing it.
Besides how the show has affect mine, my wife’s and my friend’s and family’s lives, there were tons of tabletop games under the christmas tree this year, all of which were bought at the local store. So when the economy gets back on its feet in the near future, you can proudly say; I, sir Wheaton, built that.
Well, technically you didn’t build that but you helped and that’s what counts. ;]
TableTop has been such an amazing success, in pretty much every way that I can think of — from bringing families together, to creating more gamers, and everything in between. I am certain I am not alone in thinking that it would be a devastating loss if the show were to end after only one season — just for the loss of “what could have been”, if nothing else.
Considering the incredible amount of commerce that has obviously been a direct result of the show, it seems impossible to believe that continuing the show would not be a possibility. Even if the PowersThatBe don’t want to support a second season, there are so many other possibilities. Obviously the gaming industry loves the exposure, which seems likely to turn into favorable responses to sponsorship requests (although that can get sticky, I understand). I’m sure if you were to open an official TableTop online games store, that there would be noteworthy profits that could be turned around into the show.
…but really if all else fails, crowd source it. Seriously. Look at Obsidian’s CRPG “Project Eternity”. At the $10,000 donation level you got to go have an entire day to play an RPG of your choice with ‘the crew’ at their game studios. Five backers took them up on it. Put this into the context of TableTop… while you wouldn’t want to “sell” seats in the show, do you know how many people would be happy to donate $1k+ per seat to come and spend a few hours playing board games off camera with the awesomeness that is Wil Wheaton? On the one hand I understand not wanting to get too big for your britches, as well as a desire to not create opportunities that are only for those with large amounts of income to throw around… but I’d be willing to bet that there are so many people out there who would jump at the mere opportunity to both a) support more TableTop and b) have the memorable experience of a game night with Wil… it seems it would be a shame to NOT at least try to tap into that.
Of course this is all IF the PowersThatBe don’t want to fund more TableTop. Which seems insane… but then all we have to do is look at the cancellation of shows like Firefly and Farscape to know that seemingly insane decisions are in fact made by purse-string-holders.
Thank you Wil for making the series. I hadn’t played a good boardgame in years until seeing Table Top, and since then I’ve picked up a couple from the show and a few I’ve discovered around the ‘nets. My 8 year-old daughter absolutely loves the show, and you and Felicia. Every time Felicia is on she looks at my wife and I, and tells us “She was on Eureka with Wil.”
But what I think is the best part of the show getting me to pick up some games is that the other night my daughter looked at me as we were playing some Small World, and said “We need to have Friday Family Game Night from now on.”
So thank you good Sir, and I hope to be able to watch many more episodes with my little geek.
Markus
Well whether there is a another season of TableTop or not it has been a great resource for my family. Being able to see a game played makes it much easier to know how it will work in our family. We got Dixit this month after watching on TableTop, it is not the kind of game that you understand without seeing it played. We LOVE this game, it is so much fun that you often forget to notice your score is (which keeps kids and adults who are behind from getting too grumpy).
Thanks Wil and Felicia.
I am a parent of a child who is Autistic. Games are a Godsend for him and I didn’t realize that until I stumbled upon your show awhile back. We decided to try something simple at first like Sorry. All the colors were stimulating for him. We have since been able to progress to games that I thought he would never be able to play b/c of his special qualities.
You do great things and touch people’s lives in ways you may not eve know. just be you and the rest of us will follow =)
Great job!!
I want to say thank you also.
My girlfriend is not the gamer type, but I sat down with her and played Zombie Dice, and she loved it. For Christmas, she got on Geek and Sundry and watched Tabletop until she found a game she liked (Tsuro) and bought that for us to play and me to keep. I can promise you that she would not have know where to start otherwise.
Also, I brought Zombie Dice over to my friends house, and his 4 young daughters (all under 12 years of age) watch us play a round. The next round they picked up the dice and started playing. They asked me where I found out about the game, and I told them TableTop with Wil Wheaton. To them Wil Wheaton is not Gordie, Nor is he Wesley, he is not Dr. Parrish or even Sheldon’s Nemesis. He is just “the game guy”.
Well said, sir. Made me tear up, and I’m a cannibalistic, Scotch-drinking pork chop. I ate my way out of my own pig. God, I could go for some pork and Scotch.
Love your show. Love “dem games”, and most of all: I love pork chops and Scotch.
ok this is really sweet and so honest and so true! I wanted to say that I was excited since the first day this show was announced and watched it the second it was on the internet, and so I have been watching every single episode with delight and excitement! Right now I am moving to The Netherlands (half across the world from my country) and I was very afraid I wouldn’t make friends or have anything that would please me and make me happy. I was afraid because I suffer from depression (and I was so touched and so proud to hear Wil talking about it on G&S unlike most celebrities would just because “it’s a grim subject” so it’s usually ignored) and being sad and alone and not having a fun thing to do is literally dangerous to me. Because I found friends of my fiancée in the Netherlands that also watched TableTop I decided to come out of my shy shell and asked if they would like to play tabletop games and maybe do it twice a month. I was so nervous they’d think I was being a sticky person so soon, but no, on the contrary, they were as excited as I was and we all watch tabletop and we play the games and we plan on buying the games played on tabletop and I have cool awesome friends in The Netherlands now, with whom I have a lot of fun and make me happy. So really, Wil, thank YOU for doing this show, for keeping with it and for being this awesome human being you are. I’m a big fan. 🙂
I’m somewhat stunned that I was slightly unaware of this whole endeavour until just a few moments ago. Mostly cos I’ve been trying in vain for months to actually get an account registered here to make comments, but kept getting a “banned IP address” error, which I suspect is related to my ISP being Time Warner. Clearly, I need to either find this on Wil’s Youtube channel or pray to the DVD gods to release the thing.
(and, happily, I can finally comment along with the rest of you.)
Let us know if you don’t get a 2nd season (pencil pushing scazwags can bite my shiny metal arse). I will have to decide each day if I am going to wear my “Bring back Tabletop” T-Shirt or my “Bring back Firefly” T-Shirt. Tough decision.
I’d go for the shirt…
“Don’t be a dick: bring back TableTop”
Since the premier of TableTop, my group of friends has purchased at least 8 games, most of them featured on the show. We’ve made friends with the guys who own our local game shop, which has been great.
Today I am flying out of LAX (I’m in the air right now, actually… I feel like I’m in the future!), and ever since LOST, I fantasize about what would happen if my plane were to crash on the island. A bit morbid, but I couldn’t possibly be the only one doing it. This time, I’m very happy with my scenario because I have Wits and Wagers in my luggage. Can you imagine how much better LOST would have been if they had just played Wits and Wagers with The Others? I like to imagine we would have at least found out why Walt was so damn special.
And that, my friends, it the power of gaming.
I have to be honest, I was not a fan of yours. I loved Star Trek TNG and Stand By Me, but I always thought you were pretentious. It wasn’t until I saw you on the Big Bang Theory I though hmmmm I might have been to harsh. So I googled you and found Tabletop and I’m glad I did. I am the kind of guy who works two jobs to support my family. When I was financially stable I cut out one of my jobs and I didn’t know what to do with all my new free time. I still wanted to keep in touch with my friends, but I couldn’t figure out a way to make that happen very easily. I started watching Tabletop and couldn’t get enough. I have bought almost every game you have shared with us. I now host game nights with my old friend from school and my new friend from work. I’m now a fan. I always look forward to your blogs and new Tabletop episodes. I do hope you get your second season (and more). The game companies should help convince youtube that this show is well worth it.
(Playing online is fun, but playing in a room full of friends is priceless!)
Yeah, I got a little something in my eye reading this. Many, many feels.
I just want to re-iterate what someone already said about Kickstarter – I read a few excerpts to my fiancé (with whom I’ve purchased and played Fluxx, Zombie Fluxx, Munchkin, and Zombies!!! since starting to watch Tabletop a few months ago), and we resoundingly agreed that if YouTube don’t renew Tabletop we’d happily chip a few £££ into a Kickstarter or similar fund. Tabletop’s a fun show but it’s also more than that; I think the stories you’ve told in this blog post illustrate that perfectly. Anything that can help make a marriage better, or contribute to better communication between a parent and their children, is a force for good in this world. 🙂
It would be hard to describe how much being on an episode meant to me. Not only was it SO MUCH FUN, but it rekindled my love of tabletop games and reminded me of how much I love playing them. After my episode aired, I went back and watched almost every single other one, and bought 4 games (so far) on Amazon. Looking forward to another season and discovering more games. Huge props to you, Felicia, and holy shit, your editor. It’s exceptionally good editing.