At this point, I was on Dice Tower’s Board Game Breakfast
for a little over a month when Justin and I began talking about starting a
podcast together. We figured we love talking about board games and, more
importantly, took great pleasure in arguing about board games. We thought it
could be a cool, fun side project of ours. There was not a very high expectation
of the number of listeners we would receive (we pretty much just expected a
couple of friends to listen… maybe). I just loved making content for the Dice
Tower so much that I didn’t want to stop there, and I always hoped to create
content with my brother. He seemed a lot more interested in running a podcast
with me than he did creating videos for Board Game Breakfast. In fact, he
simply was not into making videos at all and much preferred the audio podcast
style. It took us about a week to figure out what the
heck our name would be until finally I suggested “Room 51.” Justin and I loved
it, but our girlfriends were less persuaded. Good thing it wasn’t their
podcast! We ran with it despite their fears of it being a lame name… and
despite my fears as well. I liked the name because it meant something to us
(check out Blog Post #1 for the story behind the name).
The very first segment we came up with was “Roll for Thought”
where we would just have a conversation about any sort of topic in the board
gaming universe. This would go on to become the bread and butter of Room 51.
Our entire motto is “join the conversation.” We never wanted our channel to be
a place where we were just talking at people and stating our opinions as facts
or as though they are beyond all others’ opinions. We wanted to create a space
where people felt they could converse with us too. This is something at the
core of Room 51, not just about board games, but about something so much
deeper. Justin and I feel as though we, as a society, have been at a point for
such a long time where we are not willing enough to have actual conversations
and instead spread toxicity rather than fostering growth. Sure, we talk about
board games, but we also talk about social issues within the hobby itself. This
is not to say that we create perfect conversations or do it better than
anyone else, but that’s sort of the point.
Thus, a podcast was born! Our first episode aired on Justin’s
birthday and in the first couple of weeks, we saw the number of listeners grow
to around 11, which far exceeded our expectations. In about a month’s time, we
were averaging around 20 listeners, which absolutely blew our minds. Better
yet, PAX Unplugged was just around the corner! This would be the second board
game convention we would have ever attended, and we were so freaking pumped.
This could be a place to get the word out about Room 51 and I had just found
out that I would be getting to help out at the Dice Tower Booth! This is where
an amazing opportunity struck…
Nice. :)
ReplyDeleteThank you!
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