This week’s episode is the first to not feature an interview.

Instead, we get to hear a playthrough of Mike’s favorite board/card game, Smash Up by Paul Peterson and published by AEG.

Smash Up is a card game where players take two faction decks (20 cards each), shuffle them together to form a 40 card deck, and fight each other over a number of base cards. The first player to get to 15 victory points wins.

How big of a fan of this game is Mike? Well, he successfully completed a 100 game challenge with this game, and followed that up by becoming a playtester for upcoming expansions. (Sorry, no spoilers here because Mike and all other playtesters signed non-disclosure agreements.)

Mike actually recently updated his Top 10 factions list:

1. Geeks (Big(ger) Geeki(er) Box)
2. Ninja (Base game)
3. Minions of Cthulhu (Obligatory Cthulhu Set; Titan in Titans Event Kit)
4. Teddy Bears (What Were We Thinking?)
5. Kung Fu Fighters (That 70’s Expansion – the first expansion Mike playtested)
6. Samurai (Oops, You Did It Again – another expansion Mike playtested)
7. Aliens (Base game)
8. Truckers (That 70’s Expansion)
9. Orcs (Smash Up: Munchkin)
10. (tie) Fairies (Pretty Pretty Smash Up) and Wizards (Base game) – both factions having Titans from the Titans Event Kit

Honorable mentions:

• Bear Cavalry (Awesome Level 9000; Titan in Titans Event Kit)
• Elder Things (Obligatory Cthulhu Set)
• Giant Ants (Monster Smash; Titan in Titans Event Kit)
• Mythic Greeks (It’s Your Fault)
• Shapeshifters (Science Fiction Double Feature)
• Star Roamers (Cease and Desist)

Just for fun: if we were to put together a faction based entirely on Mike’s favorite cards in the game, it would look something like this. Call this Ski’s All-Stars:

• Minions (11)
  • Shinobi (Ninja – Base game, power 3) – A very sneaky Ninja that shows up as a base scores and can help you steal some victory points.
  • Elder Thing (Elder Things – Obligatory Cthulhu Set, power 10) – The most powerful minion in the game.
  • Topper Chopper (Orcs – Smash Up: Munchkin, power 5) – Has the funniest ability in the entire game: “Talent: Do nothing.”
  • Imperial Dragon (Dragons – It’s Your Fault; also appears in Smash Up All-Stars – Big(ger) Geeki(er) Box, power 3) – How can I, an Asian culture enthusiast, not include this Asian dragon?
  • Aunt of Drakes (Ignobles – Cease and Desist, power 5) – One word: Khaleesi!
  • Lovey Bear (Teddy Bears – What Were We Thinking?, power 3) – This cute little guy is all about copying the highest minion power in play. Imagine if this guy was in play with the Elder Thing.
  • Rick Roll (Rock Stars – What Were We Thinking?, power 3) – “We’re no strangers to love/You know the rules and so do I…”
  • “Skinny Minnie” (Truckers – That 70’s Expansion, power 3) – Known by Mike as “Mister Honky-Mofo” due to the art used in the earliest drafts of this faction.
  • Wil Wheaton (Geeks – Big(ger) Geeki(er) Box, power 4) – The best card in the entire game. You can play him to cancel another player’s action – and he stays on the base. Quite the contradiction from Wheaton’s Law – “Don’t be a dick” – and also a reminder that we should all be nicer to Hwil Hwheaton.
  • Felicia Day (Geeks – Big(ger) Geeki(er) Box, power 4) – Felicia moves all minions in play to one base, usually causing it to break. The power of Anuss compels you!
  • Bushi (Samurai – Oops You Did It Again, power 4) – Potential for extra victory points with this minion.
• Actions (9)
  • Probe (Aliens – Base game) – This card immediately makes me think of what the Aliens did to Cartman in the very first South Park, which is never not funny.
  • Seeing Stars (Ninja – Base game; also appears in Smash Up All-Stars – Big(ger) Geeki(er) Box) – A simple and effective way to make murder-death happen on a weak minion.
  • You’re Screwed (Bear Cavalry – Awesome Level 9000) – The name says it all.
  • Favor of Athena (Mythic Greeks – It’s Your Fault) – I like this card’s ability.
  • Freakin’ Laser Beam (Sharks – It’s Your Fault) – “Could you remind me what I pay you people for?”
  • Hyperspeed 10 (Star Roamers – Cease and Desist) – Are they wanting us to have lizard babies?
  • Wood For Sheep (Sheep – Promo faction) – The funniest card in the entire game. Not only does it pay homage to Settlers of Catan, it features a drawing of a shepherd making the titular trade – and a sheep with a funny expression on its face, looking like he is clearly being violated.
  • Power Poutine (Mounties – World Tour: International Incident) – Mmm, fries and cheese curds in gravy. Aaaagh!!
  • Chikara-Mizu (Sumo Wrestlers – World Tour: International Incident) – The fact I can correctly pronounce this action is a good enough reason to include it. By the way, it translates as “strength (chikara) water (mizu).”
• Titan
  • Cthulhu (Minions of Cthulhu – Obligatory Cthulhu Set/Titans Event Kit) – Spreads Madness to other players and gives the player license to quote Cartman’s “Hey Cthulhu! ‘Sup?”

Serious question:

How the hell does STOCK music get flagged for a copyright claim?

The entire point of stock music – and, for that matter, stock footage and stock photos – is you should be free to use them in a creative medium as you see fit.

I should point out that ALL of the music that has been used on this podcast is stock music and/or available for use under a Creative Commons license. I also make it a point to tell you where we got the music at the end of every episode of the podcast.

Despite this, our most recently published episode got flagged on YouTube for a copyright claim on a piece of music that I procured from a free stock music site.

I have filed a dispute to the copyright claim and hope it will be resolved soon.

UPDATE (7/8/19): Apparently the dispute worked and the episode in question has had its copyright claim repealed. Still, to be safe, best to avoid using music from that particular site for a while.

In our next episode, we will have Tim Crippen on.

Tim was Mike’s primary co-host on the Winning Side Coaches podcast, which ran from 2013 to 2018.

A staple of that podcast was batsu games – punishments dulled out as a result of bad picks, and themselves a staple of Japanese comedy (of which Mike is a fan, specifically Gaki no Tsukai – in fact, the word “batsu” is Japanese for “punishment”). How popular are batsu games? Dan Patrick and his crew do them on his radio show (usually dodgeballs are involved).

How have these guys been punished during the course of the podcast?

Mike’s batsu games:

• Wearing a Pittsburg State hooded sweatshirt and singing the Pitt State alma mater (Mike still owns that sweatshirt)
• Five Words: Bamboo, Banana, Gateau, Heykel, Zhiraf
• Get an autograph from John Ratzenberger (Cliff from Cheers)
• Wearing Tim’s Chicago Bears #54 Brian Urlacher jersey
• Ned Yost drinking game
• Four Words: Cuatro, Escuchar, Hasta, Mayo
• Drinking a chocolate-jalapeño milkshake (it was either this or go on a waterslide later responsible for a child’s death)
• Posing with a photo of Jerry Rice
• Wearing Kansas City Royals temporary tattoos (Tim’s favorite batsu game, and one you will see photos of when the episode releases)
• Wearing a Royals necktie
• Wearing apparel of any team he hates (hence the infamous KU hat we posted in the first Bonus Post)
• Target practice (yes, with real guns)
• Karaoke (shared with Tim)
• Pie in the face
• Star Trek “cosplay” at Star Wars Night at the Missouri Mavericks hockey game
• Re-enacting the fax machine demolition scene in Office Space
• Four Words: Southeast, Kansas, Democrats, Barbecue (shared with Tim)
• Recite New England Patriots fight song (yes, this is a thing)
• Root for the Yankees on April 15 (shared with Tim)
• Eating chili-flavored M&M’s
• Have a caricature done by our mutual friend Lucas Stoneking (whom as of this post we are trying to get on this podcast)
• Play Cards Against Humanity (shared with Tim)
• Re-enacting the “f@#$ing car rental” scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles (shared with Tim)
• Karaoke to Billy Joel (I forget the song)

Tim’s batsu games:

• Wearing a UMKC T-shirt
• Four Words: Mount, Fuji, Jet, Pack (Mike’s favorite batsu game)
• Wearing Mike’s Washington NFL team #40 Adam Archuleta jersey (because Adam Archuleta is to be blamed for everything)
• Singing karaoke to New Kids on the Block (the song was “Hangin’ Tough”)
• Four Words: Football, Sword, Puck, Outrageous
• (2 batsu games in one) Getting autographs at Planet Comicon from Erin Gray and Cary Elwes
• Four Words: Tiny, Hot, Middle, Nowhere
• Karaoke (shared with Mike)
• Wearing a T-shirt representing all of Houston’s pro sports teams
• Four Words: Southeast, Kansas, Democrats, Barbecue (shared with Mike)
• Root for the Yankees on April 15 (shared with Mike)
• Play Cards Against Humanity (shared with Mike)
• Re-enacting the “f@#$ing car rental” scene from Planes, Trains and Automobiles (shared with Mike)
• Shoot a campaign ad for Mike’s campaign for Kansas Senate

In preparation for tomorrow’s episode, our guest referred attending a college basketball game featuring “a team in blue that isn’t Duke blue.”

That team in blue was explicitly referenced in the Facebook post chain that inspired the name of this podcast: the University of Kansas (KU) Jayhawks (or, as detractors like Mike would call them, the “Chickenhawks”).

Mike had famously said in that chain that he would have to be dead to wear any KU apparel on his person.

Fast forward to 2015 and a bad set of picks on the Winning Side Coaches podcast – which led to a batsu game (for those of you who don’t know Japanese comedy, a batsu game – with batsu being the Japanese word for punishment – is a penalty for losing a bet). The result of that batsu game:

By the way, the pick that resulted in this cringe-worthy photo: Mike picked the Vancouver Canucks to win the 2015 Stanley Cup.