Today is our third day of production on season three of Tabletop, so I thought I’d share some pictures from behind the scenes so far.
Here’s our hardworking production intern, Melissa, writing some of the 7000+ names of the backers who chose the “make Melissa and Kevin write my name on the set” perk.
On Day Zero, we rehearsed most of our games, and then we shot our special backers-only mini episode. I played a really great pub game called Pairs with our Art Department head, Nick, our producer and games expert, Boyan, and Geek and Sundry Social Media Director, Sarah.
On Day One, I played Concept with Rhett and Link, and Joseph Scrimshaw.
I also played Tokaido with J. August Richards, Chris Kluwe, and Jason Wishnov.
Yesterday, we started the day playing Roll For It and Sushi Go!, with Jennifer Hale, Jason Ritter, and John Ross Bowie.
Normally, I don’t like dice games, but Roll For It is one of the rare exceptions that proves my rule. We play to 40 total points, as per the rules, but we also play the Troll For It variant, where a player gets troll bonus points for stealing a card away from another player who’s been trying really hard to score it. And Sushi Go! is just one of the
greatest drafting card games I’ve ever played.
I loved the set decoration the art department did for Sushi Go!, incorporating some adorable sushi plushies that I got from nicericeshop.com.
Our second game yesterday was Forbidden Desert, with this salty crew:
That’s me, Felicia Day, Jon Heder, and Alan Tudyk, if you didn’t recognize us from the mug shots.
Now, you may notice that I’m wearing the same shirt in both episodes. That’s a mistake, because I usually change my shirts between the two episodes we film each day … but I forgot to do that, and realized it halfway through the episode. I was wearing the correct shirt for the introduction, and then I put it back on when we did the loser’s couch and winner’s wall … but it’s pretty hilarious when I realize that I’ve screwed up, and some comedy ensues.
Finally, here are a couple more pictures of our wall of backers…
Follow me on Twitter if you’d like to get more updates from the set, and PLAY MORE GAMES!
All I want to know now, is who really owns this wall?
It looks like people will have to play tabletop games against each other to decide who gets ownership of each individual brick.
Then after the 7000+ people fight tooth and nail to achieve dominance over their respective brick the sole brick owners then can go head to head with the surrounding brick owners, winner takes all until the wall is divided in thirds….
Then the three champions and Wil will face off in the finals to see who wins the whole kit and caboodle.
Wait, Jennifer Hale? The voice of Shepard? (apparently there was a manshep as well too, but I wouldn’t know). Yes, yes, the great Alan Tudyk and Felicia Day and lots of other excellent people, but Jennifer Hale? You win at guests. (And lose at all the games, if the other series are any guide)
I bet the guests asked to be on tabletop are always super excited and feel like they’ve made it in the world. Kind of like the artists feel complete when Weird Al does a parody of their music. Oooh…Weird Al would be a riot on Tabletop……
I’m sure your lovely missus is happy that the wasabi has googly eyes! The set is adorable <3 I'm so excited for this season! Thank you for all your hard work!
Here is to season 3.have a
I can’t wait much more for Episodes to start to be cranked out.
I would love for you to even give ad space for new games coming out for new board game creators.
wow you guys are getting some awesome guests I can’t wait for S3!
Also trying not to go blind searching for my name on the wall!
Woohoo! I actually spotted my name on the first pic in the “here’s some more backer wall pics.” Thanks to Melissa and Kevin for doing that all by hand. What a task!
Don’t know if you have plans to show the wall close up in any episodes, but while it’s all constructed and you have the camera crew, maybe they could film a slow pan over the wall close enough for people to spot names. This could be tacked on to the end of the final episode or somehow included in the episodes. It’d be a nice nod to all the folks who know their name is up there, but haven’t spotted it in any of Boyan’s or your pictures yet.
Keep being awesome Wil. Glad to see Kluwe there, can’t wait to get my copy of that game from you guys.
PLAY MORE GAMES (and tape them so we can all see!)
So excited for the show to come back, and J.August Richards is one of my favorites!!!
Rhett and Link on TT. Nice pull, Wil.
My wish list: Brian Keith Dalton (Mr. Deity), J.D. Ryznar (Yacht Rock), a Grandma’s Virginity Podcast reunion (Roiland, Ridley, Buscarino), Ben “Yahtzee” Croshaw, Rob Schrab, Mitch Magee, the dudes from Red Letter Media, John Kricfalusi, Jeremy Lin, and James Caan.
“James Caan?!”
Yes, James Caan.
He did Annoying Orange (if you can believe it). You’ve got a shot.
EXCITE! I am officially 1 degree away from Wil Wheaton. I met Chris Kluwe at the Project 515 Awards last year. 😀 Alsø alsø, yay Pairs! (Although I have -yet- to receive my decks, ahem Kickstarter, ahem.)
Thanks for sharing Will seems you had a ball. I was wondering. How ,many guests have been “gamer virgins” when they appeared on TT?
Next?. How many became hooked on gaming after saidnappearance?
I recently watched several episodes of “Tabletop” – can’t believe it took me so long since I’m a big fan of games as well as your blog – and I just loved the episode with Seth Green and the Star Wars game, as well as the ones featuring Ticket to Ride Europe and Lord of Waterdeep. Do you think you could get Nathan Fillion on for one of the episodes someday? I think that would be a blast! (By the way, the Firefly board game is pretty fun, and I think it could film well…)
Anyway, I’m really looking forward to the new season! Your preview alone made me add two games to my Xmas wish list…
When will you be playing Cones of Dunshire on Tabletop?
Hey, there’s my name! Woo hoo! I’m internet famous! In the sense that my name is on the wall in teeeeeny tiny letters on the set of Tabletop Season 3! I’ll take it!
Really looking forward to this season – the lineup looks great.
So happy Jennifer Hale is on! Though I enjoy many of TT’s guests, Femshep has a special place in my heart. But not in a creepy way.
My eight-year-old son and i can’t wait for the new season of TableTop to air. He gets really obsessed with watching the episodes when they come out, and he tries to figure out which games from TT would be best for purchasing and owning and playing. Thanks for everything, Will. It’s really great to see passionate behavior in my son for something that I like as well. You guys rock.