Well, hello there, Chaz Marler from Pair Of Dice Paradise here, just back from Dice Tower Con 2015 in Orlando Florida. The convention was a great opportunity to meet online friends face-to-face for the first time, meet new people, and play lots and lots of games together. ...There was also a lizard in my bathroom sink one morning.

Now that Dice Tower Con has passed, the next thing coming up this summer is GenCon! Thanks to some assistance from The Dice Tower, I’ll be attending GenCon and filming interviews and info about new games that are being released there. I may also have a few additional surprises in store too.

But, as of the time of this recording, GenCon is already less than a month away! And I know this, because I just received a sample of the upcoming 2016 board game calendar by photographer, podcaster, and meticulous board game component arranger, Scott King. Scott’s kickstarter campaign for next year’s calendar is going on right now, and I’ll add a link to it right… here. He’s doing something pretty neat with it this year, where certain pledge levels allow backers not only select from a library of different photos, but they can also add several custom holidays to their calendar, like their birthday, their daughter’s birthday, or the anniversary of when they ordered the calendar. *sigh* Good times, good times.

But Scott’s not the only one doing amazing things that are so amazing that they leave me amazed. Snakes & Lattes podcast personality and possible classical literature supervillain descendant, Jonathan Moriarty, has built an online board game recommendation service called pick-a-game.com. As one may suspect, the pick-a-game.com website makes board game recommendations for you based on your answsers to a short personality quiz. The awesomeness of this website doesn’t surprise me, because, really, if there was anyone out there that has the power to peer directly into one’s soul, it’s Jonathan. It’s just one of his gifts.

And speaking of gifts, over the past few weeks, Pair Of Dice Paradise has received several generous care packages from views and friends of the show.

Video viewer and Board Game Geek user Dave K. sent over a couple games that he was about to put out to pasture, which was exceptionally nice of him. Thank you Dave.

And then twitter-friend and fellow Oregonian Kyle D. surprised me by sending over not only an extra copy of Word On The Street that he found second-hand during a Thrift Sift, but also a game undergoing Thrift Sift consideration, “Goodness Goddess”. However, Goodness Goddess didn’t include any instructions, and internet searches so far have been fruitless. So, if anyone out there watching knows where a board game broadcasting personality such as myself can find a copy of the rules to Goodness Goddess, let me know. I must know, for I have looked into the box, and now I cannot look away.

But games are not the only things that have generously been shared with the ol’ Pod Pea this month. People are saying “Pod Pea”, right? No? Well, I think it’s hip and cool.

Several weeks ago I received a belated birthday present from a friend of mine. A package containing two awesome shirts. The first one references a game of Camel Up that we played, in which the orange camel was pivotal, and ultimately, betrayed us all. The second one references the recent “Justin Bieber: Backstage Pass” Thrift Sift episode. So now, I can relive the memories of playing that game over and over again every time I wear this shirt. So… thank you.

Whoo! So, that’s all the newsy news from the past few weeks. Until the next newsy news update, remember that you can find even more Pair Of Dice Paradise content on our website, YouTube channel, FaceBook page, Twitter page, Google Plus page, Board Game Geek guild page, and Board Game Links page where you can give PoDP a “love vote” and help us crack the top ten in their list of Board Game media websites. We’re so close to the Top 10 that if I lick my computer monitor, I can taste it. And it tastes like victory. And speaking of victory, as of this recording, nobody has yet won the hidden contest for a $50 gift certificate for Cool Stuff Inc that was launched last month. Gee, hmm, I wonder where it could be hidden. If only you had a list of links conveniently placed in front of you.

Alright, that’s all the news for now. Happy hunting, and I look forward to possibly meeting some of you at GenCon! See you later!