It was a really good season. I had the most fun I’ve had since the first season, primarily because I reclaimed much of the stuff that had either been taken from me, or I’d given away.

We played games that we wouldn’t have been able to play in previous season, like Fury of Dracula and Eldritch Horror, and rather than try to go for lots of games that are heavy on strategy, I recalled my primary focus in the first two seasons, and looked for games that were accessible and varied, so that more people in the world will want to play more games. I played games that I never would have considered, because they have a lot of luck involved, but are still fun because they’re fast.

I stopped worrying about what The Audience was going to think, because I realized that I had allowed my fucked up brain to turn The Audience into The People On The Internet Who Hate Whatever I Do Anyway So I’ll Show Them. Recognizing that (with clarity I wouldn’t have had without my reboot) gave me permission to make the show that I wanted to make, the way I wanted to make it.

And I can’t overstate how good it was to clean house and get rid of the toxic garbage that was dragging me and the show down. If I’d only done that, this would have been the best season, ever, from a personal standpoint.

I also won a game this year, so that’s a thing.

I’m tired, but it’s a good tired that feels earned instead of imposed, if that makes sense.

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Lanterns was the first game I officially locked into our schedule for this season. It was the first game I was able to announce, months ago, when I played it with Ivan Van Norman and Becca Scott (#BeccaCheats) on their show Game the Game.

Then, as it happened, Ivan and Becca (#beccaistheworst) were the first guests I was able to announce, because we decided to have a rematch on Tabletop. We also invited the former G&S Twitch Overlord, Zac Eubanks, to fill out the game.

Lanterns has enough strategy to make it satisfying for experienced gamers, but it’s also so easy to teach, learn, and play, it’s perfect for players as young as 8 years-old. It’s also great bridge to more complex games, regardless of your age.

I’ve experienced a lot of shitty and cruel stuff in the popular online boardgame forums, but I discovered this game because someone in r/boardgames was talking about how great it was. If my memory is correct, the same post brought another game we’re playing this season, Harbour, to my attention. I mention this because it’s so easy to just ragequit and want to burn the whole internet down when shitty people are shitty. We tend to focus on the garbage, because the garbage smells the worst and if it isn’t thrown away, can totally take over a place, but we need to remember that there are a lot of good, kind, enthusiastic people out there in the world who want to share the things they love with us, and who want to build and cultivate a positive community. I’m doing everything I can to make Tabletop part of the positive and awesome gaming community that has meant so much to me for over thirty years of my life. After last season, I didn’t know if that was possible, but this year I feel like it’s come back to what I always wanted it to be. It was a good idea to take out the trash, it turns out.

Remember when I said I may not have time to do this every day? Well, here we are.

This season continues to be the most fun and the most satisfying since our first season, for a lot of reasons that will need their own post at some point in the future. The tl;dr is if I still feel the way I feel right now when production is over, I will probably want to do at least one more season of the show.

So let’s catch up on what we’ve played the last few days…

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