Sometimes you get those moments where you step back and say “I get paid to do this???”  Most recently, that happened to me last Thursday.

The concept was simple: bring together a few members of the app press and play the iOS version of the incredibly popular Puerto Rico board game.  One catch: we would be playing with the games creator, Andreas Seyfarth.  Not only is this guy a celebrity in the gaming world, he invented the game.  When two fo those four players are both huge board game fans (one of them writes for the most popular board game site on the web) you can safely assume this isn’t going to be a casual game; then there’s me, who’s played the game a total of six times.  Let’s just say my chances weren’t great to begin with.

It started as I expected it to: we all talked about the game itself, future updates, etc.  But then the conversation quickly turned towards the future of board games in general.   Now, get two board game geeks into a room and you’ll hear this conversation. but bring in a man who’s single handedly changed the course of board games in the last 20 years?  That’s a moment you won’t soon forget.

Luckily I’d saved this conversation on my computer.  So below you’ll hear the entire thing, from the first moves of the game on.  Unfortunately you won’t get to see the game now found out who won: Gabe dropped out on us at the last minute.  Thanks Gabe . . .

The Players:

• Andreas Seyfarth, the Puerto Rico game creator
• Jim Squires from Gamezebo
• Gabe Alvaro from BoardGameGeek
• Brian from Appency (I apologize in adavance for the coughing, thank the allergies)

Also on the Call:

• Thomas Bleyer and Patric Neusser from Ravensburger.