Bluff City 20: Hard Luck Pt. 1

Transcriber: @robotchangeling

Austin (as narrator): [underscored by music: “Hard Luck” by Jack de Quidt] Bright lights, blue sea, big money. Organized crime, unemployment, pollution. Hard workers, happy tourists, live music. Struggling businesses, broken bridges, terrible corruption. When I say the name “Atlantic City”, which of those words jump to your mind? Is it a destination, a work in progress, a complete failure? It’s been called the Queen of Resorts and America’s Favorite Playground, but is it anything more than an old city in rapid decline? This is the debate that talking heads have been having for years. Well, I'm Julian H. Bluff, and I'm here to end that debate once and for all. The only way I know how: by changing this town. I'm here to cut through the gordian knot that is Atlantic City. Sorry for all the drama, folks. As some of you already know, I'm a local boy turned actor turned entertainment empresario, and when I was invited to speak here at TED, well, you know I had to bring a little bit of theater to my Talk.

The truth is, Atlantic City is all those things right now. And I know firsthand from growing up in my grandma’s little mansion in Bluffington Beach that Atlantic City is a land of contrasts, but it’s also a city on the precipice of great change. And great change is always in need of an usher. And that is where Bluff City Studios comes in. Movies, television, live streaming. This is my gift to my hometown. In just a few years of operation, we have brought jobs back to this city. We’ve revitalized a district that was plagued with vandalism and antisocial behavior, and we’ve invested in new ventures that go beyond simple entertainment. But telling stories is at the heart of Bluff City Studios. Which is why I am so proud to announce that our next big feature is gonna be something like an origin story. Our own take on the first night the casinos opened in our little town. We’re calling it Grand Opening. It’s got everything you’d want in a picture. Mystery, comedy, crime, horses, and a whole lot of hard luck. [music ends]

Austin: Welcome to Friends at the Table, an actual play podcast focused on critical worldbuilding, smart characterization, and fun interaction between good friends. I am your host, for this, the first game of Bluff City season 2, Austin Walker. Joining me today, Alicia Acampora.

Ali: Hi. You can find me @ali_west on Twitter, and you can find the show over @friends_table.

Austin: Art Martinez-Tebbel.

Art: Hi, you can find me on Twitter @atebbel, and you should check out the either forthcoming or already released Gen Con live show, because that was the peak of my One Song Only plug bit, and I will not be returning to it this season.

Austin: You just did it again. Also joining us, Jack de Quidt.

Jack: Hi. You can find me on Twitter @notquitereal and buy any of the music featured on the show at notquitereal.bandcamp.com.

Austin: And, of course, Keith Carberry.

Keith: Hi, my name is Keith J. Carberry. You can find me on Twitter @keithjcarberry. You can find the let’s plays that I do at youtube.com/runbutton and contentburger.biz.

Austin: Good sites to go to, IMO. You should go there. As always, you can support the show, Friends at the Table, by going to friendsatthetable.cash. As you know, this is the first game in Bluff City season 2, but we also have a bunch of other stuff. We have live shows. We have clapcasts, which are behind the scenes stuff. We have incredible Pusher updates, which give you all sorts of super behind the scenes stuff. Go check it out if you haven’t already. Today, we are kicking off Bluff City season 2 with Fiasco by Jason Morningstar and Bully Pulpit games. And we...I think...does doing it twice make it a tradition?

[pause]

Keith: Um, yes.

Austin: Keith says yes. Everyone on this podcast has played Fiasco, except for Art Martinez-Tebbel. And so we thought about doing this for a while, and then we were like, oh, but Art’s not available. Now Art is available. We’re doing it. And there is one thing that we need to decide. And kind of what I proposed was: there’s two ways for us to do this. One is to use a new playbook. I have like a Las Vegas playbook, here, that I think we could adapt very easily to being a Bluff City playbook. [Jack chuckles] The other is to reuse the same playbook that we built last time, [Jack laughs] because the group is so different. Jack, you and I are the...or, wait, Ali, were you part of the original one? No.

Ali: No.

Austin: You were not part of the original one. So, Jack, only you and I used that first playset.

Jack: Wow.

Austin: And part of me is like—

Jack: And we know that playset makes Bluff City stories.

Austin: It does. And there’s some stuff here, based on the story I think we vaguely want to tell...I say “want to tell”, but that’s way too specific. [Jack chuckles] We don’t really have a story in mind at all, at this point. I have no idea what’s gonna happen.

Jack: So much as a place where a fiasco might take place.

Austin: Exactly. So I have that in mind, but beyond that, I don’t have anything. And I think it would work. I think there’s like a couple things we would have to change if it came up. But I think we should just do that and just see how it goes, and we’ll get another use of this playset that we built.

Jack: God.

Austin: By combining a couple of other playsets. [chuckles]

Jack: That’s really funny, because if we do actually end up making this a tradition.

Austin: Yeah.

Jack: We might end up with this peculiar game of telephone on this playbook that we’ve been using.

Austin: Right. Yeah. Right. Where like, the garage is a bunch of different things, because different groups have hit the garage before, you know?

Jack: Yeah.

Austin: I have marked what those are. I'm just gonna link everyone to this playset now. Uh, da da da da da...bop! This playset is a hack of the Double Down playset by the UK Roleplayers and also a little bit of Bad Habits by Nick Wedig. It’s the same playset that we used last time. There is some stuff here that, again, we would not use at all. There are some jokes in this that are just like, not good. I've written, “Nah, nope,” for instance, next to...one of the Needs is “needs to get rich by successfully delivering that freight container of dog anti-anxiety pills and ThunderShirts,” which...

Ali: Hmm.

Jack: Hmm.

Austin: Why have I written “no” to that? Maybe that used to be something else. Maybe I’ve add— maybe we made it [chuckles] dog anti-anxiety pills. [Ali chuckles] Because that doesn’t seem so bad! Was I in a different place around...around ThunderShirts last time?

Ali: Yeah, mmm…

Austin: Maybe!

Ali: Dog anti-anxiety pills are a heated subject.

Austin: Oh, are they?

Keith: Is that true? What’s the…

Ali: [chuckles] Well, I just feel like...if you think of like access to…

Austin: Sure.

Ali: [laughing] That sort of thing.

Art: I've got a bottle of dog anti-anxiety pills upstairs, and I wanna tell you—

Austin: Ah, I found what it used to be. It was much different.

Ali: Oh, okay. [Jack chuckles]

Art: Okay.

Keith: So you—

Austin: It was a lot different, to the degree that I will not say what it was.

Jack: Oh gosh.

Ali: Sure.

Keith: Could we read it and edit it out?

Austin: No!

Keith: Okay.

Austin: We’re gonna move on.

Keith: So you changed the thing—

Art: Wait, wait, dog anti-anxiety pills are just human anti-anxiety pills, but they’re smaller.

Austin: Okay, thank you, Art. I appreciate it.

Jack: Oh!

Ali: Fair, yeah.

Keith: You changed the thing, but didn’t remove the “nah” note.

Austin: Yeah, correct. So that’s fine, we can get rid of the “nah” note. I got that. Boop. There we go. I was like, that seems like a funny story. Um, yeah. Okay. And there’s some other stuff here that would have to change based on the setting, because for instance, there is a thing here that’s like, “oh, they met on social media,” but the premise of the game that we want to do today is, we want to do a Fiasco game set the day that the first casino opened in Bluff City. Which would be, if Bluff City took place in the real world, in the 1970s. The 1970s was when the first casino opened in Atlantic City, New Jersey. So we’re looking at this very 70s vibed Bluff City here today. And so probably no social media. Or, if it comes up, we can decide what social media means.

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: I think we play it by ear. Does that sound good?

Art: 70s vibed social media is like the classified ads in the newspaper.

Austin: Exactly. Well, we’ll get—

Keith: Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Yeah.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: If it comes up, we’ll get there. Listen. Save your bits. [Jack and Ali laugh] So, we should just jump into this. We’ve all, except for Art, played this before. Art, do you know the basics of what Fiasco is?

Art: Um, in the sense that I've listened to Friends at the Table episodes [Austin: mmm] that take place in games of Fiasco, I do.

Austin: Gotcha. Good. well, that’s probably all you need. And if you haven’t listened to any, and you’re listening to this, I'm gonna say go back and listen to the first one, because it’s already done, and it was good. [Ali chuckles] And I don’t know how this one’s gonna be. Maybe this one’s terrible!

Art: But this one’s done when they’re listening to it.

Austin: Hopefully!

Keith: [chuckles] Oh, wow, that’s ominous.

Art: No, it’s definitely, that’s—

Austin: What if they hacked in? What if someone’s listening to us right now?

Keith: You’re saying we got tapped.

Art: Oh, well, stop.

Keith: We’re compromised.

Austin: Yeah, I'm gonna tell them: stop tapping.

Keith: Stop it.

Austin: And what you should do with your time—

Ali: Mmm.

Austin: Take lunch. Go to your van, 'cause you’re like listening from a van across the street or whatever. Dial up that first Fiasco game, that game’s great. [Jack chuckles] That’ll be more enjoyable than whatever we’re about to do right now.

Keith: Can I say that if you’ve got the resources to tap into our Discord call, you should be donating more on Patreon.

Austin: Yeah, please.

Ali: Mmm.

Jack: Mm-hmm.

Austin: Unless you’re one of our top-tier backers, in which case, thank you so much. I hope you made it out to the Gen Con show. [chuckles] So good to see you.

Jack: From across the road, in a…

Austin: In a van. [Ali, Jack, and Austin laugh]

Keith: And also, please stop tapping our Discord calls.

Austin: And also, please that. Also, next time, if we could store some posters in your van, that would be huge.

Art: Yeah, if you’ve got a good van-across-the-street method, we gotta talk to you about merch. [Austin, Jack, and Ali laugh]

Austin: Alright. So, the first step with Fiasco is to choose a playset. We have done that, I've linked it in the chat. The next is to roll a bunch of dice in a central pile. [reading instructions] “Once you’ve chosen a playset, you roll some dice in the middle of the table. Four per player: two black, two white. Thus, you’ll be rolling twelve, sixteen, or twenty die.” That’s five players today, which means that there should be twenty die here. I think that this is right, because this is the same as the last time we did a setup. Actually, not the last time y'all did, because y'all played that zoo game as a live that was fantastic.

Keith: Yeah.

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: But what did I just say? So, if it’s five players, it’s twenty dice, right? Da da da da da da da da da da da da da da da.

Keith: You know, the name Fiasco, I feel like, should have prepared me for when I first played Fiasco in the zoo episode.

Austin: Uh huh? There we go. We’re good.

Keith: It’s hard to do a good job in this game!

Austin: It can be! [Jack chuckles] Alright. We roll these dice. “It doesn’t matter who rolls—just make sure you start the setup with a nice, random assortment of numbers.” I'm gonna...boom. I've now rolled these dice. That’s a lot of 6s.

Art: That’s a lot of 2s.

Austin: It’s a lot of 2s. I'm gonna reroll these. I don’t like this. [Ali chuckles]

Keith: Wait, hold on. Whoa, hold on. [Art and Jack laugh] Now it’s a lot of 1s!

Ali: Now there’s like a billion 1s!

Keith: See, this is what you get.

Austin: It explicitly says, it explicitly says…

Keith: Okay, alright.

Austin: To make sure that there’s a good assortment of numbers.

Keith: Alright.

Art: There’s seven 1s.

Austin: I haven’t rerolled this other set yet, which it’s not letting me do again, for some reason. There we go, those. And then this one. There’s a limit to how many things you can roll at once, which is weird.

Keith: Oh.

Austin: Maybe. I don’t know.

Keith: I feel like this is not a good assortment of numbers, still.

Ali: I don’t think that’s a…

Art: There’s only two 3s.

Austin: You don’t want an even assortment. Alright, do you want to do one more? And that’s it. Whatever it is, it is.

Keith: One more, we roll on the black.

Ali: One more, yeah. ‘Cause we got so many ones.

Austin: Okay.

Keith: That’s much better. I'm loving this.

Jack: I hate this game. [Austin and Ali laugh]

Austin: That’s a lot of 3s.

Ali: Okay, this is better.

Keith: That’s a lot of 3s. But it’s like less 3s than…

Austin: Alright, this is it. We’re done.

Keith: We’re done.

Austin: We’re locked in. [Ali giggles]

Jack: There’s a lot of 6s there, Austin.

Austin: So. [reading] “You’ve now chosen a playset stuffed with interesting things and have a pile of randomly-rolled dice. The next step is to combine the two. Your particular game is going to have a bunch of specific bits associated with it, like ‘Location: the Suds and Duds Laundromat on Commerce Street’ or, ‘Relationship: Friends with benefits’. Together, these will form the bones of your game. The guy you make will have a pair of Relationships with other people in the community, played by your friends to your right and left, and a Detail—a Need, Object or Location—to help fill out their particular background. You start with the player who grew up in the smallest town, and then take turns building the web of information in rotation.” So, who started— who grew up in the smallest town?

Art: It’s gotta still be Jack.

Jack: I'm out. I'm recusing myself from this. [Austin laughs loudly]

Ali: Then it’s Keith?

Keith: Oh, right, 'cause you’ve been in all three Bluffs, right? So you…

Austin: Yeah, you get— you’re...then it must be Keith, right?

Keith: I grew up in Milton, Massachusetts. 30,000 people, about.

Austin: Mmm. How are we defining “grew up”?

Art: New York City, 8 million.

Ali: I've been in so many places growing up, that like, which one do I even…

Keith: I'll say this, though, if this helps. I grew up on a farm on a mountain in the middle of nowhere with no neighbors.

Ali: Okay, Baldwin has 20…

Austin: But how’d you have 30,000 people?

Keith: It’s a big town just area-wise, but I was not in a town setting.

Austin: Mmm.

Keith: I lived like way...I lived on a mountain.

Austin: Were you still technically in that town, though?

Keith: I was technically in the town.

Austin: Okay. Ali?

Ali: The place that I went to high school has 24,000.

Austin: Is that the place that you would say you grew up?

Ali: I think I would have to, yeah. [chuckles]

Austin: The place I grew up has 8,000 people, but it’s in a much larger metro area. So, I don’t know.

Jack: My village has 800 people, I'm out. [others chuckle]

Keith: “Village.” My hamlet… [Jack, Austin, and Ali laugh] I grew up in a hamlet.

Austin: Ahh.

Art: The territory of the local baron, includes… [Jack and Austin laugh] My homestead and the six farms down the road.

Austin: Perfect.

Keith: Austin, why only 800? How does that shake out?

Austin: 8,000. 8,000. 8,000.

Keith: 8,000.

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: Why only 8,000? How’s that shake out?

Austin: There are just a bunch of other suburban towns all around it.

Keith: Okay, yeah.

Austin: So, you know.

Art: This is probably about keeping Black people out of schools.

Austin: Almost certainly. Like, almost certainly.

Art: Yeah.

Austin: Because, the town I grew up in before that has more people in it, and it’s also where all of the Black and brown people are, so.

Art: Yep. Mm-hmm.

Austin: Uh huh. Welcome to New Jersey.

Art: Northeast is great.

Austin: It’s the worst. So. Let’s...I guess I'll start?

Keith: Okay. Yeah, that works.

Austin: [chuckles] 8,000 is definitely smaller. So, I am going...so, the way this works, is we’re gonna go clockwise. I'm gonna start. I'm at the bottom, here. I'm gonna assign one of these die, basically—I’ll just read it. “You do this by looking over the playset lists and grabbing a die from the central pile with a number that matches an element you’re interested in. If it’s for a general category—” like, for instance, I'll use a category from our playset here. Let’s say, “Relationships: Work”, for instance. Like, if I took this 1, that could be, I want a work relationship. “If it’s for a general category, write it on a new index card. If it is filling in a specific element for a general category already on the table—” like, if we already had...if I already had “Relationships: Work” between me and Jack, and then I pulled down a number 1 that was “Dealer and Hostess at the same casino,” I would fill that out on that index card. We kind of just put those words between the various groupings, here. The index cards, I guess, technically, should be between our names. But the way that this is written up is...this I the way I made it two years ago or whatever, and we’re gonna stick with it. “Leave a die that you allocate on top of its card, just to keep everything organized. Since there will be one Relationship between each pair of players, you can simplify the setup by starting with two index cards per player and writing ‘Relationship’ on top of them.” Which, I guess, is the other way you could have done this, is just like...I could have put these cards literally between us all. Maybe I should just do that. Should I just do that? It’ll take like two seconds?

[0:15:56]

Ali: Yeah.

Art: Sure.

Ali: It’s easy to do.

Austin: Whoop, I moved the background. So, off to a great fuckin’ start. [Ali and Jack laugh] Yeah, okay, so, I'll move this one here. So that’s, Jack, you and me. Keith, this is you and me. Keith and Art— or, no, it’s Keith and Ali. That’s you two. It’s kinda just like this.

Ali: Mmm.

Austin: I'll just do it the regular way. [chuckles] By moving it back down to here. And then just do this. And then, Ali and Art are there.

Ali: Right.

Austin: And then, Art and Jack are there. That adds up, right?

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: And I'll just move these dice to a better place.

Keith: Mmm.

Ali: Do you want me to get started on the words, or is that all you?

Austin: Uh, you can...the words— the only thing on that should just be “Relationship” right now, because that’s the only thing…

Keith: Right, but they’re all wonky. They’re like, floating.

Austin: Yeah, you can move them. If you want to move those words, you can move those words.

Ali: Okay, I'm gonna see if I can.

Austin: If not, that’s okay. It’ll take a second.

Ali: Someone messed up.

Art: Oh, you can tilt the words. Very fancy.

Keith: Oh, I can’t move any words, unfortunately.

Austin: Okay, well, that’s the thing. Relationships, Details, whatever. Okay. Details, Relationships, boop, bop. Beep. Done. Alright. So, those are in the right place now. [reading] “Details are always explicitly tied with Relationships. If there is a mink farm, it’s a mink farm connected to the preacher and his secretary or the two cops on the take, not an individual character. It’s perfectly acceptable to lay down a Relationship between two other players if it’s still undefined. It’s also totally okay to add Detail to one of your own Relationships. As you rotate around, taking turns adding information, eventually you’ll have two index cards per player, and every index card will have two dice on top of it—one for a general category, and one for its specific element. The only rules are:” there needs to be a relationship between every pair of players. Not every pair of players. Every player next— you know what I mean? Every pair that we’ve set up, here. Does that make sense?

Keith: Mm-hmm.

Art: Yeah.

Ali: Mmm. By your seatmates.

Austin: “Every neighboring player,” is the way the book says it.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: And then one Detail attached to each Relationship. And then, across the table, there needs to be one Need, one Location, and one Object. And then the final thing is completely wild. So, I'm gonna start with a Relationship, because that seems like the thing...you know, we’re gonna need all the Relationships possible. And I'm gonna start with...hmm. So, again, this is just like general. This is not the second die number. This is…I’m picking a number that will be Work, Family, Crime, Romance, Friendship, or Sports. [sighs] Keith.

Keith: Yeah?

Austin: I am picking a number 3, because you and I have a crime Relationship.

Keith: Cool.

Austin: Then, we go to Jack. Jack.

Jack: Oof. Okay. Uh...Art?

Art: Yeah.

Jack: I am picking a 5, because we are friends.

Art: Great.

Austin: Love to have friends.

Jack: It’s so important to have friends.

Art: [thinking] Okay.

Austin: Art?

Art: I'm just, there’s a lot of numbers to read.

Austin: Yeah. [Jack chuckles]

Art: Did you notice we have no 2s?

Austin: Nope.

Keith: We have—

Austin: The last card— the last die is wild, so. We have one 2.

Ali: There’s a 2. There’s a black 2.

Art: I don’t think that’s right.

Austin: Yes, there is a black 2. There is a black 2.

Ali: It’s all the way at the bottom.

Art: I can’t tell.

Austin: Uh huh. [Ali and Austin chuckle]

Art: [chuckles] I'm on a different page right now.

Austin: Well, that’s important, right? Because there’s only one. That means that if it’s spent in Relationships, that will give us Family. If it’s spent in Needs, it will be “Need: to get out”. If it’s spent in Locations, it will give us The Strip. If it’s the Objects, it will be Information. And so those are all like, gone, if that 2 is spent on a different thing, which is interesting.

Ali: Oh.

Art: Alright. Where do I put a location?

Austin: Uh, it’s tied to a Relationship, still. Or it’s like tied to a...I guess, are Locations also tied to people? Let’s see. I think so. Maybe not.

Jack: Yeah, I believe so, 'cause it’s like the mink farm is between the preacher and…

Austin: Yes.

Art: Okay.

Jack: Mink farm? Is that— what is that?

Austin: Is that one of them?

Keith: I think it said mink farm. I'm pretty sure mink farm.

Jack: Oh, okay.

Austin: Mink. Yeah, yes. Yes, yes, yes.

Art: Okay, so I can just say that like, just grab this 5, and say that Ali and I have a Relationship that involves the casino.

Austin: Perfect.

Ali: Okay, perfect. Yeah. I'm gonna go with...i’m gonna use one of these 3s and add a Need which is “to hide”.

Austin: Okay. we don’t know what you’re hiding or who you’re hiding, or if you’re hiding, or if something else is hiding.

Ali: Well.

Austin: But you have a Need to hide. Okay. Back to me.

Keith: Uh, skipped me.

Austin: No, sorry. I'm sorry. Keith, apologies.

Keith: It’s okay. Nope, no worries. The cards are very confusing.

Austin: Yes, they are.

Keith: [laughs] Let’s see. God, we’ve got a ton of 6s.

Austin: We do.

Jack: Wait, hang on. Am I misreading, or should the card between Keith and Ali not have Crime on it?

Austin: It shouldn’t. That’s...uh. Why is that—

Keith: No, I wrote Crime 'cause I thought that was my card.

Austin: Okay. That is your card, that’s your card with…

Ali: Oh, that should…

Austin: No, no, sorry. That is not your card.

Ali: No, no, no.

Austin: Your card...no one has individual cards.

Keith: No one has a card. There’s cards in between everyone. Got it.

Austin: Yes. Correct. Correct.

Keith: I understand.

Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ali: The Crime thing exists between you and Austin.

Austin: Correct.

Keith: Right.

Ali: Which is why it’s on the other...yeah.

Keith: And so, every person should have one Relationship, one with the person on their left—

Austin: Yep.

Keith: And one with the person on their right.

Austin: Correct. And then certain relationships will also have a Location, an Object, or a Need.

Keith: Okay. Let’s...Crime...oh, well. Okay, perfect. I'm gonna take a 1 for a Location with Austin of Sports. [Jack chuckles]

Austin: Okay. [Ali chuckles] Okay.

Art: A sports Location.

Austin: A sports Location!

Keith: Mm-hmm.

Ali: Mmm.

Austin: Alright. As a note, we still need...so, it’s fine to have done that. But I want to be clear that we do...no one else should probably take a third Location until we have at least one Need and one Ob— I guess we have one Need already. So we...just make sure there’s an Object in play, soon-ish, and we should be fine.

Keith: Okay.

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: Did you move the...was it a 1, you said?

Keith: I have not moved it, no. I can’t move things.

Austin: Oh, okay. One second. It’s the 1, you said? Right?

Keith: Yeah, it’s 1, yeah.

Austin: I have moved a 1. And I'm also going to make sure people can click on these. No, I'm not. I'll deal with it later. So that is Location: sports?

Keith: Location: sports!

Austin: [chuckles] Sorry, it’s very funny to say that phrase. It feels like a very news anchor thing? [Jack chuckles]  It feels like a person on the evening news’s name, do you know what I mean? And now, weather, with Location Sports.

Jack: Hello.

Austin: [laughs] Alright, now it is actually my turn.

Keith: Up next on our ongoing coverage of locations: sports! [Austin and Jack laugh]

Austin: Hmm, there’s a lot here still, huh?

Keith: Yeah.

Austin: I'm spending that 2.

Jack: Ooh!

Art: Ooh!

Austin: Jack, we are family.

Jack: Hell yeah!

Austin: Alright, uh.

Art: Okay. Oh yeah? Well, Jack and I—

Jack: Wait, wait, wait!

Art: Oh.

Austin: It’s Jack’s turn. [Jack laughs]

Art: Well, I've skipped Jack. [chuckles] That’s what our friendship is like. [Austin and Keith laugh]

Jack: Austin, I am going to take a 6.

Austin: Okay.

Jack: Because we have a Valuable Object.

Austin: [intrigued] Oooh.

Art: Oh.

Austin: Is that— that’s an Object. That’s the thing. The category is Valuables. Okay, great.

Keith: Family, Valuable Object, Crime, Sports. It’s all coming together. [Austin, Ali, and Jack laugh]

Art: Alright. Well, then, I'm not gonna give Jack and I [Austin: wow!] a Lucky Object. [Jack chuckles] I am going to give Ali and I—

Jack: [disappointed] Oh. [someone makes amused sound]

Art: A Sports Relationship.

Austin: Okay.

Ali: Hell yeah.

Austin: Awesome, more sports.

Keith: But not a Location Sports. Wait, no. It is—

Art: No, Sports Relationship, a 6.

Austin: Right.

Ali: Keith, you can veto this. But I desperately want to be a dealer and hostess at the same casino. [chuckles]

Keith: Okay.

Ali: And I have the 1 to spend it. So I'm gonna do that.

Austin: Wait, do you have the casino yet, though?

Ali: No, it’s—

Austin: You don’t have Location Casino with Keith yet.

Ali: No, it’s...Relationship: dealer and hostess at the same...can I not do that? Or…

Austin: You need...you need...wait, oh, oh.

Ali: It’s just—

Austin: But what’s the base Relationship?

Ali: It’s Work.

Austin: So, you need Work.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: So, you need to set up Relationship: Work, first.

Ali: Okay, cool. Perfect.

Austin: Yeah. And there’s plenty of 1s left. No one spend all the 1s.

Ali: Okay. I thought I could go a tier down. But we don’t have a...

Austin: No, you have to set up what type of— like, the category first, and then you can fill in the details.

Ali: Oookay. Okay. [chuckles]

Austin: In the same way that you picked Need: to hide, not Need: to hide…

Ali: Fair, fair, fair.

Austin: A body, or whatever. You know?

Ali: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Austin: That...the To Hide category is the one from the Bad Habits playset, instead of the Atlantic City one. Or, the Double Down one. Whatever it was. Keith?

Keith: Okay. I've got two Relationships. So, is there something else that we need on the table?

Austin: You need details. You need details on those Relationships. Crime is not a full Relationship. Sports is not a Relationship.

Keith: Okay, I wasn’t sure if that was a second separate segment.

Austin: Yes. So now you need—

Keith: So we can now start…

Austin: No, yeah, you should fill in those gaps, yeah.

Keith: Okay. Well. The first thing I want to fill in is...no.

Austin: No? The answer’s no?

Keith: The answer’s no. I want to fill in the “no” segment. [Austin and Ali chuckle] Here we go. What numbers do we have left? I just want to make sure I'm…

Austin: We got some 1s. We got three...okay, we have three 1s. We got four 3s. We—

Keith: “Crooked gambler and dodgy bookie.”

Austin: Okay.

Keith: Oh, we don’t have a 5. I misread a 4 as a 5.

Austin: Oh, yeah, we don’t.

Ali: It’s four 1s, four 3s, one 6, one 4— or, two 4s.

Austin: Okay.

Ali: Two 6s, two 4s. Sorry.

Keith: Okay, here we go. “Grifter and their mark.”

Austin: Great, good.

Keith: That’s a 1.

Austin: Alright. So, that’s our relationship, Keith?

Keith: Yeah.

Austin: A grifter and their mark? Great.

Keith: Yep.

Austin: Fantastic. [Jack chuckles]

Keith: Only one of us has the valuable object. [Ali giggles]

Austin: What number was that? Yeah.

Keith: 1.

Austin: Did you already add the 1? No. I got it.

Keith: I—

Austin: Oh, right, you can’t add the— you can’t move the dice, right. Okay. My turn. So, I already know what that situation is. Let’s see here. This is the good stuff. Right, I was organizing these dice. Okay, one second. Let me do that so we know exactly what’s on the table, here. Alright, so, for Valuables...okay. Yikes. [Ali chuckles] The one I want from this set of Valuables just is not available.

Jack: I wonder if it’s the one I also wanted.

Austin: Is it 5?

Jack: Yeah.

Austin: Or is it 2?

Jack: Mine was— I was, 5 or 2 was what I was…

Austin: I'm 5 or 2 also. Here’s the thing. Who’s gonna get to go last? Not us. Okay. [chuckles] How many more die are there? One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. One, it’s me. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight...no, yeah, we don’t get to go last.

Ali: You have some great choices, here.

Austin: They’re good choices for Valuables.

Jack: 5 and 2 are real doozies, though.

Austin: But 5 and 2, mwah! [Ali laughs] Unbelievable. 2—

Art: 3 is, I think, getting underrated here.

Jack: 3 is good.

Austin: 3 is incredible.

Jack: 3 is really good.

Austin: You know what?

Ali: 1 is fantastic. [chuckles]

Jack: Yep.

Austin: 1 is great too.

Jack: 1 is really good.

Austin: But I have...except that there’s a problem, here. Which is: this game takes place in the 70s. [Ali laughs] 1 is: a leather hold-all containing $300,000 in used $2 bills. Weren’t $2 bills still in circulation? [laughs] [Jack chuckles]

Ali: Were they?

Art: $2 bills are still in circulation now. They still print those.

Austin: You know what I mean. You know what I mean.

Jack: God, we just have a bag full of money.

Ali: That’s even funnier. [laughs]

Jack: Yeah. [laughs]

Austin: We should go.

Keith: Yeah, a Valuable Object is a bunch of money. [Ali laughs] A pile of money.

Austin: I think I'm gonna go—

Keith: The object is a pile.

Austin: [chuckles] I think I'm gonna go 3. Which is: “a cool half million in blood-stained casino chips.” With the irony being, this is the day the casino opens? So… [Ali and Keith laugh] We couldn’t have won them.

Jack: Okay, okay, okay.

Art: But they had to get somewhere in a truck, probably.

Jack: How many— what’s the value? One million?

Austin: “A cool half million.”

Jack: Half million. [slowly, taking notes] Half million of blood-stained casino chips. Excellent.

Austin: Uh huh, I got it. I wrote it. We’re good.

Jack: Oh, I'm keeping the scratch doc I've made as well, so it’s nice [unclear ??? 29:37]

Austin: Oh, good. Good job, good job. The other thing, there, I'm curious, is how much is a half million dollars in like 1973?

Keith: I'll look it up.

Art: Um, a lot, because the high inflation was in the late 70s.

Austin: Oh, yeah.

Jack: There’s another thing about— yeah, okay. I'm gonna message you, Austin. [chuckles]

Austin: Oh, okay. 2.9 million dollars.

[0:30:03]

Jack: [laughing] Oh my god.

Ali: Boy howdy.

Austin: Jack, it is your turn.

Jack: Okay. I'm just gonna put 3 million dollars in our scratch doc, here, so we know exactly how much that is. [chuckles]

Austin: Yeah, uh huh.

Jack: Um, hmm…

Keith: How much money did you say?

Austin: 3 mil. 2.9 mil.

Keith:  Yeah. Yeah, I got the same thing.

Austin: Basically that.

Keith: I got—

Austin: 2.88 or whatever.

Keith: Yeah. Mine’s…

Jack: Okay. Art.

Art: Yeah.

Jack: How would you like to be bound together by a shared secret?

Art: That is the best one on there.

Jack: [chuckles] Okay, hell yeah!

Austin: Is that a type of Friend?

Jack: Okay, that is a 4. Yep.

Austin: So, a Friend, bound together with a shared secret.

Jack: Yes.

Austin: Okay. I'm just gonna get rid of the word Relationships. We get it. Art, it’s your turn.

Art: Ali.

Ali: Mm-hmm?

Art: I assume that you do not want to be full-time horse racing jockeys. [Ali, Austin, and Jack laugh]

Ali: I would like to pass, yeah.

Art: Alright. Then I think—

Austin: I do want to do a horse racing episode this year, though. Just putting it out there.

Ali: Oh, yeah.

Art: Well, then—

Austin: Not this one.

Art: Also assuming that...we’ve already done some of these. I think we have to be bookies.

Ali: That’s perfect. I think that works.

Art: Alright.

Austin: So, Relationship: sports bookies. Okay.

Art: Yeah. [Ali chuckles]

Austin: God. Hey, wait, what didn’t go...oh, no, that was...okay, we’re good. We’re good. I think we’re good. Ali, your turn. So, you still need a detail for Location: casino with Art and then a specific work Relationship and a specific Need: to hide.

Ali: Okay, yeah.

Keith: Is the Jack-Art card missing a die?

Austin: That’s what I thought, too, but not necessarily.

Keith: Okay.

Jack: No, we just haven’t filled that out yet.

Austin: Yeah, yeah.

Ali: Uh...Location: casino.

Austin: Didn’t you have a work Relationship you liked?

Ali: I did, but I want to look at what my options are. [laughs]

Austin: Oh, okay, fair. Fair.

Ali: Which number is the casino— oh, right. Oh, it has something in front of it.

Austin: Yeah, sorry. It’s not the real— that’s not the name. I'm just gonna delete that.

Ali: Okay, thank you. I'm actually just gonna take one of these 1s just in case.

Austin: Just in case?

Ali: To get the work relationship that I want, which is hostess and dealer. [laughs]

Austin: Hostess and dealer. So you’re a hostess/dealer…

Jack: Oh my god.

Austin: But also a bookie?

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Art: Mm-hmm.

Austin: Okay.

Keith: Where better to take bets than at the casino?

Austin: I mean, I guess the question is like...i’m...are you...is this a situation where there used to be bookies, like under-the-table bookies, but now there’s a hotel, or a casino, where you can just be a bookie? Do you know what I mean?

Ali: I think so, yeah. It’s like, if you’re—

Art: I mean— oh.

Ali: No, you probably— go on. [chuckles]

Art: This is more like, in real life Atlantic City—

Austin: Yeah.

Art: You can’t take sports bets in a casino.

Austin: You can do horse racing, for sure.

Art: Yeah.

Austin: But yeah, I guess...yeah.

Ali: Mmm.

Austin: I thought that was coming, finally? I thought they were finally getting a sports book.

Art: It’s supposed to be coming, but like...

Austin: Okay.

Art: What does that mean?

Austin: Yeah, who knows.

Keith: Well, also, this doesn’t have to be legal, does it?

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: That’s— no, totally not. Yeah, you’re totally right. [Ali laughs]

Art: No, I think it’s probably not legal.

Keith: Right.

Austin: It’s probably not legal. Alright. Keith.

Keith: Hello!

Austin: You need to fill in the Need: To Hide, or your Location: Sports.

Keith: Let me look at the Need: To Hide real quick. I was having a hard time finding it on the list.

Austin: It is under Needs.

Keith: Just the Needs.

Austin: And then it is…

Ali: It’s 3.

Keith: Yeah.

Austin: 3, yeah. The current options are… [chuckles] okay. One of these we’ve used before, which is interesting. But it doesn’t mean we couldn’t use it again!

Keith: Which one is it, the bold one? Is it secret entrance?

Austin: The bold one.

Keith: Yeah.

Austin: It’s secret entrance we used.

Jack: Hmm.

Keith: Hide...let’s see. My other one...so the one…“that thing you stole” makes a lot of sense. “From those mobsters” makes a little bit less sense.

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: But would work. Or, I could do...for Location: Sports.

Art: Oh my god.

Keith: Location: Sports, I was thinking probably Bluff County racecourse, was what I was thinking.

Austin: For Location: Sports.

Keith: For Location: Sports.

Austin: Um, I think...like, I'm not gonna say no to it, but I do think we’ve moved away from the racetrack. Because we have so much casino focus, right now?

Keith: Yeah. Well, that’s the thing, is none of…

Austin: What’s left in Sports?

Keith: We’ve moved away from all of the stuff in here.

Austin: Right. Sorry, I'm trying to find it. Yeah, I guess that’s true. That’s fine, though!

Keith: It’s Lucky Strike Bowling Alley, Chesapeake Greyhound Racecourse—

Austin: We can figure it out. You know what? No, let’s do it. We can do the racecourse.

Keith: Okay.

Austin: Wait, can we do the racecourse? We can’t do the racecourse. There’s no 2s.

Keith: No, no, the Bluff County Racecourse, it says right there. 3.

Austin: Oh, it’s the third one, okay. I was looking at this greyhound race—this is horses.

Keith: I imagine the greyhound is dogs and the other one is horses, so.

Austin: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright, so, yeah. So, this is a horseracing track.

Keith: I mean, we could do— we couldn’t do cars.

Austin: No, this is fine. No, we couldn’t. We don’t have the numbers for cars.

Keith: Don’t have the numbers for cars.

Austin: But that’s okay. Location: Sports.

Ali: This works. It’s a casino with a… [chuckles]

Austin: Well, it can be…

Ali: A racing tie-in.

Austin: It can be like, on the mainland. We’ll find an excuse to meet at a horseracing course at some point, you know?

Keith: I do also— I want to say that I kept reading Chesapeake Greyhound as cheapskate greyhound? [Austin and Ali laugh]

Austin: Great. Jack.

Jack: Mmm.

Austin: I'm looking at types of family we could be.

Jack: Yeah.

Austin: Some of these overlap.

Jack: Oh yeah?

Austin: Not necessarily, but.

Keith: Wow, I can’t believe the one that’s taken already was “unrelated but still family.”

Austin: [chuckles] Uh huh.

Keith: Shocker.

Austin: Yeah. I'm thinking a 1 or a 3, here?

Keith: 3’s really good.

Jack: Yeah. Yeah. I was thinking 1, 3, or 4.

Austin: Those are the one’s available to us, right? Except for 6, right, 6 is also available. Okay. I...

Jack: I don’t have any strong feelings between 1 or 3.

Austin: I want to make sure...I could go either way. Really, it ends up being, like, how at each other’s throat do we want to be? Like, is this…”Object: Valuable: a cool half million in blood-stained casino chips.” Is this,1, siblings. Where it’s you and me being like...trying to figure out what the fuck to do with this. [chuckles]

Jack: Like, backs together.

Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly. Or, is it 3, “the black sheep and the golden child of the family,” at which point this is going to tear us apart?

Jack: Yeah.

Austin: I'm leaning 1, because I'm currently, in another relationship—just so you know, just to let you know, just to be upfront about the relationships I'm in.

Jack: Mmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.

Austin: Crime: a grifter and their mark.

Jack: Mmm.

Austin: And it looks here like I'm the mark. [Ali laughs]

Jack: Mm-hmm!

Keith: [feigning innocence] What do you mean?

Ali: You never know!

Austin: I would love an ally. [Ali laughs]

Jack: Here’s the other thing that I would say about 1.

Austin: Yeah.

Jack: It doesn’t rule out [Austin: no!] us tearing each other apart.

Austin: [laughing] It doesn’t.

Keith: And, I would also say, “the black sheep and the golden child,” what’s better…

Austin: That’s true! That’s true.

Keith: What’s more golden than being loving and accepting of your black sheep sibling?

Austin: You know what? Let’s go with the black sheep sibling situation. We’re doing it. The black sheep and the golden child of the family. We don’t know who’s who! Let’s try to make it tied to this casino.

Jack: [chuckles] Oh, I love Fiasco.

Austin: Fiasco’s good. Turns out. Jack, it is your turn.

Jack: Okay! Let’s see. Let’s see. What are our options, here? We have two 1s, a 3, a 4, and two 6s.

Austin: Right.

Jack: Two 1s…

Austin: You, in fact, at this point, you don’t have anything that’s unfilled, right? So you’d be starting a new thing.

Jack: Yes. but I would like a...I want some kind of…

Austin: Another Need?

Jack: Probably a Need. Yeah.

Austin: Yeah, I feel like the table needs another Need.

Jack: 1, 3, 4, 6. Let me see what our options for Needs are, here. 1, 3, [chuckles] 4, and 6. Art, are any of these speaking to you?

Art: Yes.

Jack: Hit me.

Art: I think you should take a 6 to make it a Need for us, and then I will finish it off with a 3.

Austin: Wait.

Jack: Ooh, int—

Austin: Oh, I see.

Jack: [interested] Interesting. Interesting.

Austin: Huh.

Jack: Yeah, I'm prepared to go along with this. Okay. I'm gonna take a 6. We want to get answers about something.

Austin: So you need to get answers.

Jack: And, again, we are friends bound together by a shared secret.

Austin: About...dot dot dot. Art?

Art: I'll take a 3, so the thing we need to get answers about is “why the 4:00 race is ‘a sure thing’.”

Austin: In quotes, “a sure thing.”

Art: Yeah.

Keith: Good to have another race thing on there. That works.

Jack: Yeah.

Austin: Yes. That’s exactly it. Yeah, totally. Alright, we have four dice left, is that right?

Ali: It’s my turn, yeah.

Art: And we still need a...the Location: Casino needs to get finished.

Austin: Yeah.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: And then so does Need: To Hide.

Ali: Yeah. I'm deciding between the two.

Austin: Ali, I have a really good one for 6 to propose for Location: Casino, but…

Ali: [giggles] I know. I...yeah. I was choosing between either choosing somewhere to hide or the penthouse?

Austin: Right. The penthouse is also nice.

Ali: But maybe I don’t understand the function of a penthouse in a casino, and I just wanna double check. [chuckles]

Keith: It’s, well, for high rollers.

Austin: It’s just, yeah, fancy.

Ali: Okay, yeah.

Austin: Fancy hotel.

Ali: Whereas, 3 is like—

Keith: For if someone’s there to lose $20,000, you can comp them a room.

Ali: Right. Okay, yeah. Uh huh. God. The theater is so good, but I do really like the penthouse, so I'm gonna go with that. [chuckles]

Austin: Go for the penthouse. So that’s casino—

Keith: You don’t want to go with the state of the art secured underground vault? [Ali laughs]

Austin: We did that one before. There was a bird in there.

Keith: Alright. Need: to hide. I have a 1, a 4, and a 6.

Austin: Mm-hmm.

Keith: Hide that thing you stole. The secret entrance, which we used before.

Austin: Mm-hmm.

Keith: Grandpa’s war journal, that’s out. That doesn’t make any sense.

Austin: [chuckles] You don’t know. Maybe it’s Grandpa’s war journal that someone cares about. I don’t know!

Ali: Maybe there’s a secret vault combination in it, or…

Austin: Right. Maybe the war journal has something, yeah.

Keith: Maybe it’s a…

Ali: A guide to racing.

Keith: Maybe it’s a book that says “Grandpa’s war journal” on it, and inside is a list of all my marks.

Austin: [chuckles, imitates grifter] “Ah!” You tap it nostalgically. “Grandpa’s war journal.”

Keith: “I wouldn’t be where I am without it.” [Austin laughs] Let’s go with “that thing you stole.”

Austin: Alright. So the two of you need to hide that thing you stole.

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Keith: Great.

Austin: Alright. And then the last thing is going to be...we pull the thing over here. Sorry, what number is that? That’s number 1 for you? Whoops.

Keith: Yeah, that’s 1.

Austin: Alright. So that goes there. And then whatever, we pull one of those over, and we get rid of this die.

Keith: Did a lot of 1s. I did tons of 1s.

Austin: You did do tons of 1s.

Ali: Oh, yeah.

Austin: Alright. I'm gonna count these die up. I think we can pull them off of these cards now. I'll double check, one second. “Put all the dice back into the central pile.” Okay. Or, actually, at this point, we need to create characters attached to the Relationships and Details. Does—

Keith: There is one thing that we need to do, right? We have to make sure that we have an even number of black and white.

Austin: Yeah, I will do that.

Keith: Okay.

Austin: That is what I was gonna do…

Keith: Great.

Austin: When we put them all in the central pile. But, the other thing we need to do is, [reading] “We have a big pile of intermingled Relationships, a dangerous obsession or two, and some tasty places and things to wrap them around. At some point, you might cry out, ‘Of course! I'm the librarian who is selling dope to the Board of Alderman!’ but it’s also possible that your character remains amorphous. Now is the time to get it into focus, because leaving things to be fleshed out in play weakens them. Work as a team—everybody needs to define who they are based on their particular Relationships, and quite often these will be unequal, frayed by differences in power and status. It may make more sense for you to be the drug dealer rather than the guy who also has to be the preacher, but maybe not! Once you’ve firmed up the situation, everyone agrees it’s solid, you are ready to play! You should have a pair of relationships shared with the players on your right and left, some interesting details associated with some of the relationships, and a character that has emerged from the web of information you’ve generated as a group.” Uh, da da da… “Give your character a name. It’s helpful to write this on an index card folded like a tent in front of you for everyone to see.” We’ve put those on the nameplates that we have in front of us all. And then we put the dice back into a central pile. I'm gonna start doing that right now.

Keith: Ali, did you want...you picked hostess and dealer. Did you want to be the hostess or dealer, or are we both both?

Ali: You can choose either one. I feel like either one works. But I'm also a bookie, so I don’t know if... [laughs]

Keith: And I'm also a conman, so.

Ali: If there’s one of those that feels like...yeah, it doesn’t matter. We all have…

Austin: Okay, we had an extra white die.

Ali: We have side gigs.

Keith: Maybe it’s flex. They put you where they need you.

Ali: Right, yeah.

Austin: Jack, do you have a family name in mind? Do we have the same last name?

Jack: [exhales thoughtfully] Um...probably. I don’t necessarily have a family name in mind. [Austin chuckles softly] Do you have a name in mind?

Austin: I have been moving dice around and not looking at my name book.

Keith: Family tradition is that you both have mononyms.

Austin: Wow.

Jack: [chuckles] No, I don’t. [laughs] I don’t have a family name in mind.

Austin: Alright. Uh...hmm. Does anyone want to start? Does anyone have— is anyone sitting on something?

Keith: I have a name written on my plate. [Ali makes amused sound]

Austin: [sighs] No. I'm never gonna be your mark with a name like that.

Jack: [laughs] Unless Keith’s the mark.

Keith: Yeah, we still technically… [laughs]

Austin: That’s true, we...yeah, uh huh.

Keith: Look, we could flip it. I could be a grifter and a mark at the same time.

Austin: [chuckles] I guess so. No, 'cause it says “and their mark,” right?

[0:45:03]

Keith: Right. Well, a grifter can get grifted, is what I'm saying.

Austin: That’s true! That’s true.

Keith: I'll change my name.

Austin: Your name— Keith’s name is Confidence Connie Mann.

Keith: M-A-N-N.

Austin: Oh, right. Maybe you just introduce yourself as...nyeah. Ugh, Connie Mann is so much. [Keith laughs] We have to draw lines. [someone snorts]

Art: I took a big swing, and you can just say no.

Austin: I can’t pronounce that first one.

Art: Well. Can you—

Keith: Ercole (pronounced: err-cole) Verandanza.

Art: Ercole (pronounced: er-cole-ee).

Austin: Ercole (pronounced: er-cole-ay).

Art: Ercole (pronounced: er-cole-ay).

Keith: Okay, I was close.

Art: It’s like Hercules.

Austin: Oh! Is this...how...here’s a question. Are the Verandanzas related to the Verandas?

Art: Yes. I am trying to…

Austin: You’re trying to, like…

Art: Make a proto…

Austin: Mmm.

Keith: Is this like...this is like...this is like Rons and Vons? The grocery stores?

Austin: I don’t know what that is.

Art: I don’t know. I think it’s...I think it’s like, you know, people had...when people had particularly long ethnic names, they often shortened them.

Austin: Mm-hmm.

Art: But we don’t have to go that way.

Austin: No, no. It’s...I’m down. [testing pronunciation] Ercule.

Art: I'll link you to the pronunciation video I'm working off.

Austin: Appreciated. Keith, if you want to be [Ali: I—]  Connie Mann, you can be Connie Mann. Ali?

Keith: [sadly] No, I've already deleted my tag.

Ali: [chuckles] I've chosen my name as Judy Waters.

Austin: Good name.

Ali: Thank you.

Austin: Jack, are you the black sheep or the golden child? It’s gonna help me decide names.

Jack: I could be either. I would like to be the black sheep.

Austin: Okay. How do you feel about...hmm. There’s stuff that I'm like, “Ooh, I want to save that for a different thing.”

Jack: I know! This is exactly the problem I am in.

Austin: [inhales thoughtfully] Now I'm looking at old names, and being like, oh, could be part of a family we already know.

Ali: Eh, what are you saving it for? We’ve been waiting to do Bluff City for months, we’re finally back, we’re here.

Austin: Because some of them have a genre vibe that are not just...siblings.

Ali: [laughs] There will always be another name.

Austin: I guess we don’t, also, need to be siblings, technically, right? We just have to be golden child and black sheep.

Art: Yeah, you could be cousins.

Austin: You could be cousins. You could be whatever. But you should be peers, right? You should be from like...I think we should be from the same generation.

Jack: I think we should be siblings.

Austin: I wanna be siblings. I'm happy to be siblings.

Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Austin: Alright. [sighs]

Ali: I'm getting a call from Nebraska Wesley right now, and that’s a fantastic name. [laughs]

Austin: That’s a good name.

Jack: Oh my god.

Austin: Shoutouts to Nebraska. [Ali snorts] We could just be the Nebraska siblings. [Ali laughs] I kinda like Nebraska as a last name.

Jack: Hell yeah! Okay. Actually, there was a name that I was going to pitch—

Austin: Uh huh?

Jack: That I was worried was too silly.

Austin: Uh huh.

Jack: And I think that it can just be...it can just be...yeah.

Austin: Yeah?

Jack: Yeah, okay. Let’s be the Nebraska siblings.

Austin: Okay.

Jack: Do you have a first name?

Austin: No, this is now...I’m working on it. I'm working on it. Keith, how are you doing over there?

Keith: I came up with another over the top one. I deleted it. [Jack chuckles]

Austin: Aw, I didn’t see it though. Was it good?

Keith: It was Honesty Candor.

Jack: [laughing] Oh my god.

Austin: That’s a—

Jack: Honesty Candor is my favorite Twilight Mirage character.

Austin: That’s a Twilight Mirage name, yeah.

Keith: Yeah, it didn’t sound...yeah, it sounded like a different season, and also it was just the same name but the reverse.

Austin: Right. Yeah. Uh huh, true.

Keith: My name’s, um...my name’s Brothers Nebraska.

Austin: [laughs] My name is Nash. Nash Nebraska.

Jack: My name is Carly Nebraska.

Keith: No relation. [Austin chuckles]

Jack: But everybody calls me Good Job.

Austin: Why? What?

Jack: Because it’s like, you did a good job. You’re the black sheep of the family. It’s, [dismissive] “Oh, yeah, good job.”

Austin: [chuckles] Mean!

Jack: Rude family.

Austin: Apparently. Alright, there’s that. Yeah, Herc is the way to do it, Art, for sure. I'm down with that.

Art: Ironically, not a big strong guy. A wiry sort.

Austin: Okay. Yeah, we should talk about what these characters look like. [chuckles] Ahh. Sorry, I'm thinking about mine. I'm thinking about what mine looks like, and it’s making me laugh. Because my character, Nash Nebraska, looks like the wrestler, Nash, maybe like…

Art: Kevin Nash?

Austin: Kevin Nash.

Art: Oh, Jesus.

Austin: Maybe like, five years ago? Like, long hair Kevin Nash?

Art: Magic Mike Kevin Nash.

Austin: Magic Mike Kevin Nash. Wearing like a frilly cowboy outfit. Like a frilly 70s Vegas like...sky blue with the underarm leather frill— you know—

Art: Magic Mike Kevin Nash.

Austin: Is that what he looks like in that?

Art: It sounds like something a wrestler playing a stripper would wear in a movie.

Austin: [laughs] I keep typing in “Kevin Nash cowboy outfit” and nothing is coming up.

Art: That’s weird. He’s definitely worn a cowboy outfit.

Austin: Yeah. So, for people who don’t know Kevin Nash, he’s tall. He’s a white guy. He’s got a...kinda like shoulder-length long hair, is the version of him I'm thinking about. Like a...has like a good, big, confident stature about him. Good, big beard. I think the version of him I'm playing is just starting to go gray, but he’s like leaning into it a little bit, you know?

Jack: How old are you?

Austin: [thoughtful breath] Uh...how old is Kevin Nash now? 'Cause not that old. He’s 60 now. I'd say I'm like late 40s.

Jack: Okay.

Austin: So I'm an adult. You could be young. We can be…

Jack: Yeah, this is also what I'm thinking, like there’s a…

Austin: You know what I mean?

Jack: There’s like a— yeah.

Ali: Keith, do you have a preference on hostess and dealer?

Keith: Um, I guess my— I have a slight preference for dealer.

Ali: Okay, cool. I think hostess works. I can get a lot of face time with people. [Austin chuckles]

Keith: That’s important for networking.

Austin: True.

Ali: And take their money.

Austin: Kevin Nash is older than I thought he was. He was born in the 50s. Sorry, it’s fine.

Keith: Is that your age, there, in the…

Austin: Yeah, I've written 43.

Ali: I have a look for my character, and it’s mostly just an outfit, but it’s the Faye Valentine card dealer outfit, obviously.

Austin: Oh, good outfit.

Ali: But like, a little bit mixed with the like, Doug big suit video? [laughs] Like, very big shoulders.

Austin: Oh, the “Bangin’ on a Trash Can”.

Ali: Yes, yes, yes. The big suit.

Austin: The big suit.

Ali: The big suits from Doug?

Austin: Uh huh. [unclear ??? 52:26]

Keith: [laughs] Oh, yeah, we all know drummin’ on a trash can, bangin’ on a street light. [Ali laughs]

Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Ali: If you Google image search “Doug big suit” you’ll know what I'm talking about.

Austin: I might be wrong, also. That was not— okay, it is that video. Okay, it is, it is, it is.

Ali: Yeah. But just like, a magenta suit jacket, black lapels, a green bowtie. Come to me to...get seated? What do casino hostesses do? [chuckles]

Austin: Mm-hmm.

Ali: Seat people. Give them instructions.

Austin: Perfect.

Art: A casino host is usually dealing with gamblers. They’re like…

Ali: Yeah.

Art: They’re like low-level fixers, you know?

Ali: [intrigued] Oh.

Keith: Wait, who are low-level fixers?

Art: Casino hosts. A casino host is like the person...if you’re like a big enough gambler, the person you call at the casino is the host, and you tell them you’re coming in and what you want—

Ali: Oh, perfect, yeah.

Art: And they determine if like, based on what kind of action you do, if they can do what you want.

Austin: Mmm.

Keith: Mmm.

Ali: Hmm! What kind of action you do.

Art: I also posted a picture of kevin Nash from Magic Mike in the chat. Definitely looking like a man who owns a cowboy outfit.

Austin: Let me go look here. Oh, yeah, definitely.

Ali: He’s hot here.

Austin: Yeah, dawg!

Ali: [laughs] He’s just a long life—

Art: [chuckles] Just a hundred percent certain that that person owns those clothes.

Austin: He is hotter with short hair, now, I really genuinely believe, but.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: You know?

Ali: He’s been so many different versions of a hot person throughout his life—

Austin: That it’s incredible, right?

Ali: That I'm just proud of him. [laughs softly]

Keith: Who, this wrestler?

Austin: This wrestler.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: Wrestler, Kevin Nash, yeah.

Art: Yeah, his— he was hot as Diesel.

Austin: Yep.

Keith: I don’t know. He looks like a guy that gets angry at like his son’s baseball game.

Austin: Yeah, 'cause he loves his son, and the fuckin’ umpire [Ali: yeah!] is callin’ some bullshit calls, Keith!

Keith: Yeah, yeah. See, thank you for confirming.

Jack: And he also loves the sport of baseball.

Austin: [laughs] And also, I love the sport of baseball, 'cause I'm a good American!

Keith: Amateure baseball, you really see the textbook game. [Jack and Ali laugh] None of this showy— [laughs] that’s why I prefer Little League.

Jack: Kinda the platonic ideal of…

Keith: [laughs] Right. None of this home run showy crap. It’s back to the 20s, when they really knew how to play!

Jack: [laughs] I wanna see people getting walked always.

Art: Yeah, everyone’s in danger of walking at a Little League game.

Jack: I think Carly Nebraska, the image that I have...I’ve been looking at, like...at first I typed “best 70s costume design,” 'cause that seemed like the best place to begin. And then I threw that out, and decided that Carly Nebraska just looks like Shelly Briggs from Twin Peaks.

Austin: Oh, sure. Young— like, from the original Twin Peaks.

Jack: Yeah, played by...I don’t know how to pronounce her name. It’s like, Madchen Amick?

Austin: Yeah. Madchen Amick. Yeah, I think that’s right. Madchen.

Jack: This picture of her, so like…

Austin: That’s like...they could play...like a big brother, little sister duo, for sure.

Jack: Yeah. One hundred percent.

Austin: At the time, anyway.

Jack: So like, small, dark brows, lots of brown hair, sort of constantly looking vaguely pouty or sulky. Small hoop earrings.

Austin: Perfect. Art, can you tell me about what Herc looks like? You said wiry?

Art: Yeah, wiry, with like, you know, dark hair in that kind of like...I have like a...kind of like the bartender in The Shining.

Jack: Oh, wow! Huh. What’s he called, Frank? What’s that guy called?

Keith: Never seen it.

Austin: Oh, that guy’s creepy.

Art: Lloyd.

Jack: Lloyd. The Frank of Lloyds.

Art: But this guy if he had to like live a real life and wasn’t a horror movie character, you know?

Austin: Oh, yeah.

Jack: Yes.

Art: Like soften this a little bit.

Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Art: Yeah.

Austin: I got you now. Now I'm getting you.

Jack: Oh, he’s great.

Art: This, but with less “kill your family”.

Austin: Okay.

Jack: Why don’t you have a drink?

Austin: So that’s not the shared secret, then? [Jack chuckles]

Art: I don’t know, if we want the shared secret to be “I’m a hotel ghost”... [Austin laughs]

Jack: [chuckles] And I need you to kill your brother.

Art: [laughing] I need you to kill your brother. We can talk about that. But that wasn’t where I was going.

Austin: Ahh, god. God. Yeah, I should say: he/him for Nash Nebraska.

Jack: She/her for Carly Nebraska.

Art: He/him for Herc.

Ali: Judy is she/her.

Austin: And, Keith, who has a name again.

Keith: Jackie Sound. Jacob, Jacob Sound.

Jack: Wow!

Austin: Great name. See? You got there.

Jack: Jacob Sound.

Keith: Age 23 to 26, he is not sure.

Austin: Quick question, yeah, is that—

Keith: Yeah.

Austin: Okay, he’s not sure. Okay. Yeah, I'm down with that.

Keith: You did have a question, though?

Austin: No, that’s— I think you answered it.

Keith: Oh, okay.

Austin: ‘Cause it’s left my mind.

Keith: [sighs] You know— [sighs] You know when you see someone who’s like, who like...looks like they will be a dad?

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: And it’s just like, oh, in the future, you’ll be a dad.

Austin: Not quite there yet!

Keith: Not quite there yet. Right now you still look like a young kid, but you have like a dad type.

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: In the way that...there’s something...I guess vaguely friendly and...something vaguely friendly and maybe even nonthreatening about them.

Austin: Yeah, okay. Sure.

Keith: I'm trying to think of a face double, but I don’t have one yet. But I might get there.

Austin: If you get there, you get there. You know?

Keith: Like John Cusack.

Austin: Okay.

Keith: Like young John Cusack.

Austin: Okay. Sure, sure. I can get with that. Alright. So we have characters. We have a situation, I think. Yeah? We...tonight is the night of the opening...the first day of the first casino in Bluff City. What...do we have a name for that casino? What is the first casino in Bluff City?

Jack: [exhales thoughtfully] This is pre-Millennium, right?

Austin: Pre-Millennium, right. So that means no...that means we cannot include any of…

Jack: What are his casinos?

Austin: There’s the Black Colossus. There is the Black Star. And there is the Black Millennium. So, none of those. [chuckles]

Jack: Okay. Okay. Is this a casino that has much more of like a “we’ve opened our first casinos in the 1970s” name?

Austin: Totally. Like, the first—

Jack: Is it called like, The Atlantic something? Or—

Austin: Totally. Right, like, the first hotel— the first casino in Atlantic City was just called “Resorts!”

Jack: Oh my god. [Jack, Austin, and Ali chuckle] Is it called The X Resort? Or like...the…

Austin: Is there a good synonym for casino?

Art: What was the first Vegas casino?

Keith: Blackjack, and then some!

Austin: [chuckles] The El Rancho? Is that right? That can’t be right.

Keith: That sounds— that’s the worst name for anything. Whether it’s like a…

[1:00:03]

Art: [chuckles] The worst name for anything.

Keith: Whether it’s a breakfast, a sandwich, or a casino. [Austin chuckles]

Art: It looks like it’s The Flamingo?

Austin: That’s not bad.

Jack: Oh, The Flamingo is good. What about a…

Austin: What about a bird?

Jack: Bird.

Keith: Osprey.

Jack: Albatross. The Albatross. [Keith laughs]

Art: You’ll be on the beach, it’s gonna be like...people are gonna be like, it’s the...The Albatross is not a bad name.

Austin: The Albatross isn’t bad.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: Also, we’ve never heard of this—

Art: They used to be good luck.

Austin: We’ve never heard of this— it did, yeah, you’re right. We’ve never heard of this casino again. Who knows why. [chuckles]

Jack: Yeah. Yeah. The Albatross! I mean…

Austin: The Albatross. What’s the theming? Is there theming?

Jack: Oh.

Art: It’s nautical.

Jack: Yeah, nautical, but like—

Art: Or, I guess the early casinos were very lightly themed.

Jack: Fancy nautical?

Art: Caesar’s, I think, is the first like big themed casino.

Austin: Right.

Art: Although, Caesar’s is open. I think Caesar’s opens in the 60s.

Austin: Like, the original Caesar’s. Yeah, so there would be time.

Art: Yeah.

Austin: There would be time.

Keith: They give you like one of those circular life preservers to put around your neck, and it just says “The Albatross” on it.

Austin: [chuckles] Yeah, let’s do it. Okay, The Albatross. Nautical themed. I'm just gonna write that on Art and Ali’s thing, since y'all have a casino thing.

Ali: Okay, cool. Thank you.

Austin: The Albatross Casino and Hotel? And the sub-location is the luxury penthouse. Boom. Alright. Love it. Alright!

Art: The luxury penthouse called the, um, The Crow's Nest.

Jack: Oh! Yeah. [Keith laughs faintly] Well, we’re kind of mixing our bird metaphors, at this point.

Austin: So is the casino.

Jack: Fine, yeah!

Art: Well, it’s a boat thing, right? That’s the thing on the top.

Keith: Yeah, it’s a boat thing. That’s a boat thing!

Austin: It’s a boat thing.

Keith: And then, also, if I was like a rich gambler looking to spend some gambler money, I would want to be a crow that went to The Crow's Nest.

Austin: [laughs] Sorry, I'm thinking about that bit in Home Movies where...what’s the name of the comedian who they get for that role?

Keith: Which role?

Austin: Uh, it’s the episode where the kids...it’s the episode where the school brings a guy who’s there to like tell them how to make money. And then the guy ends up teaming up with McGuirk and going to a casino boat. It’s the one where the kids want to run away from school and go to Europe. Tom Wilsonberg is the name of the character. Do y'all not remember this bit?

Keith: No.

Art: No.

Austin: Alright, I'm gonna link everyone. We’re gonna have to watch this together. [chuckles] Sorry, everyone. [Ali chuckles] Very important. I'll count everybody in.

Keith: Ian Roberts. Oh, it’s Ian Roberts.

Austin: It’s Ian Roberts, yeah, yeah, yeah. Of course, of course, of course.

Keith: Yeah.

[brief pause]

Austin: So good. [a few people chuckle] I love the show. Alright.

Ali: Before we move on from this section of the game, I wanna say that I've chosen a facecast for Judy.

Austin: Yes.

Ali: Which is Yu Hayami, who’s a Jpop star. I have a picture here of her in a good suit.

Austin: That’s an...

Jack: Oh, that’s an incredible suit.

Austin: Oh my god.

Ali: [laughs] It’s so good. If people at home want to play around, I don’t know how to get this suit. You can google image search Yu Hayami. You can google image search her cover for Colorful Box which is also kind of what I'm going for. Or Yu Hayami Recess which is also her in a little tie, which is fantastic.

Austin: It is...here we go. It is...if you do a s— why does this say this? What? Wait.

Ali: Mmm.

Austin: If you do a search for “Yu Hayami...Spotify Jpop girls”. [chuckles] [Keith and Ali laugh] It has to be the whole thing. It will be the fourth result. [Austin and Ali chuckle]

Keith: Well, did you test that in incognito?

Austin: You know what, I didn’t. I could be— you’re right. Let’s just toss that in over here.

Keith: It’s— you’ll know when you see it that it’s the one.

Austin: It’s the third result in an incognito search. [chuckles]

Keith: It’s checkered, sleeves rolled up.

Austin: Yeah.

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: Big tie.

Keith: Blue patterned undershirt with a matching patterned tie.

Austin: Or, it’s not a tie, is it? Is it a tie? It is a tie.

Keith: It’s a tie.

Austin: Yeah.

Keith: The tie has the same pattern as the shirt.

Ali: It’s fantastic. It’s so good. And specifically like, in a lot of images she has this nice pixie cut with really full bangs that are really blown out, but this is like longer, and half of it is curled for some reason. [chuckles]

Austin: It’s so good.

Ali: And like, really teased.

Austin: It’s so good.

Keith: “Teased” is a funny way to describe hair.

Ali: [laughs] It’s a thing you do to it.

Keith: I know what I means, but it’s just funny, still, that that’s what it’s called.

Ali: [laughs] You’re right.

Keith: We just teased it a little bit. We’re just gonna tease it. [Ali and Keith chuckle]

Austin: Uh. Alright. Are we good with that part?

Keith: Yeah, are we gonna play this game?

Austin: Yeah, we should play this game! Alright! So. Phew. [reading] “The setup is over at this point—Act One awaits. Once you finish the setup, actual play is structured in two acts. These consist of scenes, which are the meat and potatoes of the game, so we’ll discuss how those work first, before moving over to the overarching structure. You’ll use the rules for scenes during the majority of the game.” By the way, I've made like the setup, all the handouts, they’re back in— they should all be visible? Maybe they’re not all visible. Can you see them if you check in your handouts?

Keith: “Old handouts”?

Austin: No. Can you see like “The Basics”? Can you not see these?

Keith: No.

Austin: Fuck. Alright, it’s fine. I'll fix it.

Ali: There’s a— no, yeah.

Keith: The Basics! There we go.

Austin: Now you get it.

Ali: Oh, there we go.

Austin: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So there’s that. There’s a bunch of these, so that’s good. It’s good that it didn’t keep it so that you could see them. It’s very cool.

Ali: Oh, this is little. That’s not too many...that’s not too much to read.

Keith: I actually think it would have been even cooler if they kept it. [Ali laughs]

Austin: No, no, that’s one of many still left that I have to...I’ll just reveal them as we need them, you know?

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: But, for now, the basics are there. So: the basics. [reading] “Scenes exist so we can ask and answer questions—sometimes directly, sometimes not. Each and every one should result in something cool and interesting happening. Your characters’ stories will move forward based on the strange and tragic outcomes of your scenes. When it’s your turn, your character is in the spotlight. Choose to establish or resolve a scene. If you are establishing, create a scene. If you’re resolving, ask your friends to create a scene for your character. Begin the scene. At some point during the scene, determine the outcome. If you established, your friends will give you a white or black die signaling a positive or negative outcome for your character. If you chose to resolve, you pick the die and the outcome. If it is Act One, hand the die you were given back to another player. If it is Act Two, you keep the die you chose. Finish the scene informed by the color choice after that point.” So, I guess Keith— no, me, I'm gonna go first, right? 'Cause I'm still from the smallest place.

Keith: Oh, you didn’t have moved?

Austin: I— what?

Keith: You didn’t have moved? Where you were from?

Austin: What is happening? What is happening with Keith?

Keith: [laughing, faintly] I'm just—

Austin: [chuckles] Is Keith okay?

Keith: ‘Cause you’re still from the smallest place. [laughs]

Austin: Uh huh.

Keith: So you didn’t have moved?

Austin: I didn’t [laughs] have moved, no. [Keith and Jack chuckle] Can y'all really not move these dice around? It says it can be controlled by all players.

Keith: I now can. I couldn’t before. I don’t know if you changed it, but at some point I started being able to.

Austin: I changed nothing.

Art: I always could and accuse Keith of malarkey.

Austin: Okay.

Keith: No, it’s true. Look, I can do that, and I can do that. It wasn’t true before.

Austin: I'm checking to see like, maybe some of them don’t have the control on? But it looks like they all do. Alright.

Keith: They all do.

Austin: [chuckles] Alright.

Keith: I promise, if I could’ve been moving my own die the whole time, I would’ve been doing it.

Austin: Uh huh. [Ali laughs] Alright. The first scene. [reading] “Sometimes Fiasco’s cold start beginning can be daunting. You’ve got a situation that seems primed for fun, but how do those translate into action? The action is to take a look at the character in the spotlight and start asking questions. Always build a scene for the person in the spotlight around a question you’d love to see answered. What do they want to know about other characters, the world, themselves?” Alright. I think...I think...I know how this opens. This opens...phew, this is the opening of a movie, huh? [Ali giggles] One second. I gotta look at a list of songs from 1973. [Keith laughs distantly]

Ali: Good.

Austin: Oh! This is good. One second, let me...hmm. Is that the vibe I want? What’s the vibe I want? [Ali snorts] It’s very important.

Ali: It’s a lot of decisions to make right now.

Austin: It is!

Ali: This is the first one.

Austin: But I think I got it.

Ali: Okay. I believe in you.

Austin: Mmm...that’s too fast, that’s too fast, that’s too fast. [Ali laughs, muffled]

Keith: I'm putting my headphones down for like one second while you— hold on.

Austin: No, that’s fine.

Keith: Okay, cool.

Austin: I just need to find the song that’s right. Man, music was a lot.

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: Y'all ever hear about music?

Ali: I'm a big fan.

Austin: Yeah?

Ali: Mmm.

Art: [pretending he’s just had a great idea] Yo, we should do a music podcast. [Ali and Austin laugh]

Ali: [feigning thoughtfulness] Hmm…

Austin: I went back one year, and it feels like I don’t know any of the songs in this year. It’s very funny. Maybe it’s forward, and it’s this one.

Ali: 1973...has some choices for you.

Austin: Has some what?

Ali: At least...it has some choices for you.

Austin: Oh, it totally does. I looked at them all.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: I looked at all the music from 1973. All of it. There’s good stuff in there. But none of it has the right...I mean, I'm sure it does, and I just don’t know it, do you know what I mean? Like.

Ali: Mm-hmm.

Austin: But also, there’s other stuff to think about here, which is like, most of these are love songs. We’re not opening on a love song.

Ali: We’re starting with Dolly Parton’s Jolene, let’s go.

Austin: Let’s go. [Ali laughs] No, 'cause like…

Ali: No, I know.

Art: I'll be right back.

Austin: A lot of these songs are good, but…

Ali: Let’s do “Hooked on a Feeling”. [chuckles] A movie hasn’t done that yet, right? [Austin laughs]

Jack: First time.

Austin: Neil Sedaka version of “Love Will Keep Us Together” playing. Which, if you don’t know, has like a, [imitating mellow, upbeat song] ba ba ba, ba ba ba, like tempo. Very just like, imagine people walking around. People are painting walls. People are carrying things and setting up a casino. It is the interior of The Albatross. Everyone is like, not rushing to and fro. Everything seems fine. But everyone is where they are supposed to be. It is 36 hours before the opening night of The Albatross. Plenty of time to work with, here. So it is like, it is like, let’s say 8 a.m. The camera is following someone from behind. They have long, blondish hair. She has— what are you wearing right now, Jack?

Jack: I am wearing a shirt from NASA.

Austin: Great.

Jack: And it is a promotional shirt for the moon landing, with the year 1973 on it.

Austin: [laughs] Perfect. Good! And you’re walking past people. People are like looking away from you, like you’re not supposed to be here. And the camera follows you up a brand new chrome escalator and down past a bunch of slot machines, most of which have never been pulled, but there’s one person in the back going from one to the other— one to the next, pulling on each arm to make sure that they function correctly. You walk past a bunch of blackjack tables, and there are people being trained on how to deal blackjack, like going over their things one more time. There are...someone runs up to you, like walks past you, takes a photo. The credits are rolling during all of this. The song is playing. No one has said any actual words yet. And you’re carrying, in your hand, a very fancy like carrying case. Like a handbag, like a big handbag. Like a...what would you call what I'm talking about? Like a…

Jack: Like a…

Austin: Like a small duffel, but not a duffel bag, you know? Like a…

Jack: Yeah, yeah, yeah. A small duffel.

Austin: Yeah, a small duffel.

Keith: Like a weekender?

Austin: Like a weekender.

Ali: Ooh.

Austin: And you eventually find me. So, I'm setting up the scene. You’re gonna have to tell me if it goes good or bad. Your big brother Nash, and I am...what am I doing here? I'm— the camera kind of pans up past your shoulder, and you see me talking to someone in a red vest, and I pat them on the back and they go in a different direction. And someone else walks up to me and pats me on a back and whispers something in my ear, and I go,

Austin (as Nash): “Yeah, yeah, yeah.”

Austin: And then I direct them down a different direction, and they walk away. And I look up, and I open my arms to you. And I go,

Austin (as Nash): Carly.

Austin: And then you open the bag, and inside are...some casino chips.

Jack (as Carly): So, these are the ones?

Austin (as Nash): This is them.

Jack (as Carly): [chuckles] Okay! Great! So, you want me to just hand them over to you now?

Austin (as Nash): Yeah, uh. Everything’s there, right?

Jack (as Carly): Uh...well. About that.

Austin (as Nash): Yes?

Jack (as Carly): [laughs nervously] Uh...this isn’t all of it, Nash.

Austin (as Nash): [hushed] What do you mean, not all of it? We need them all. We—

Jack (as Carly): [as if feeling patronized] Yeah, no, I know we need them all, Nash. But, uh, [chuckles] I would have had to have brought a much bigger bag, Nash!

Austin (as Nash): Can we step into [sighs] my—

Jack (as Carly): Yeah, big day! Big day!

Austin (as Nash): Yeah, what… [loudly, to another character] Yeah, Hal? Hal? No. You don’t— you don’t need to double check them. One each— if one of them breaks, they’ll let us know! Okay. [to Carly] [sighs] Come into my office.

Jack (as Carly): Nice work, Hal!

Austin (as Nash): That’s not— don’t talk to Hal. I told you, don’t ever talk to Hal.

Jack (as Carly): I was giving him some advice.

Austin (as Nash): Don’t— okay. [sighs] So, you said they’re not all here.

Jack: Like, bag on the table with like this clank.

Austin: Yeah. Clunk, clink. And like, inside you can hear the chips kinda like ckckckttt.

[1:15:03]

Austin (as Nash): [sighs] I— you know, I'm not gonna lie, Carly. I did expect the bag to be bigger. I asked you to pick up the chips that we were gonna need tomorrow, for tomorrow, for the grand opening. And I thought you would come in. I told you if you needed people to help you move them.

Jack (as Carly): Mmm.

Austin (as Nash): If you needed...but you came with like a little clutch, basically. [insincerely] Which, good job.

Jack (as Carly): This is a sample.

Austin (as Nash): [incredulous] It’s a sample?

Jack (as Carly): Yeah, yeah. I thought you’d want like a...you’d want to be…

Jack: And I just reach into the bag and like pull out a handfull, which must be like thousands of dollars.

Austin: Oh, yeah.

Austin (as Nash): You—

Jack (as Carly): And the rest are, uh...you know. I've got them— I've got the— the van is parked outside.

Austin (as Nash): Alright, well, go get, uh...don’t get Hal. But I can give you some people. They’ll help you move them in! The sample’s good. What’s wrong with the sample? Nothing’s wrong with the sample.

Jack (as Carly): Really?

Austin (as Nash): What’s wrong with the…

Jack (as Carly): No “Thank you, Carly”?

Austin (as Nash): [softly, exasperated] Oh my god. [to Carly] Carly. I'm sorry. You know, I'm sorry. You know what? You’re right. I have a lot on my mind. You’re right. I'm sorry. Thank you so much. You’re the best little sister in the world. Couldn’t do it without you.

Jack (as Carly): “Now...now go get me a load of casino chips?”

Austin (as Nash): Please?

Jack (as Carly): Alright. Well. Good seeing you, big brother. Uh…

Austin (as Nash): Carly? Carly. Carly. Carly. Carly. Listen. Mom said we shouldn’t fight, and we shouldn’t. This is not a me thing. This is not a— all this is not a...this is a family thing. You’re in this. We’re in this together, and...I love you. And I need those casino chips.

Jack (as Carly): Okay. Alright. I was— it was sharp of me, I'm sorry. I just—

Austin (as Nash): [overlapping] No, no, no, no, listen. No, no.

Jack (as Carly): I had a panic. I had a panic outside, 'cause I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to carry all of these up. But now I'll...I’ll go and carry them all up.

Austin (as Nash): Get Sal.

Jack (as Carly): Okay.

Austin (as Nash): We just— [Austin imitates buzzer] Sal?

Austin: And it’s like over— like echoing through the casino, [Austin and Jack chuckle] 'cause there’s any other— there’s not enough people there to like, dampen the noise.

Jack: Just this awful, blown-out…

Austin: Yeah.

Austin (as Nash): [voice distorted as if over speaker] Sal? Sal, can you come...can you come to the— Sal, can you come to the office? I need someone to help Carly— [normal voice] Hey, Sal.

Austin: And yeah. I think that’s my scene. Did that go well or did that go poorly? We should have decided— someone should have decided for me, in the middle of that scene.

Ali: Oh. I did that.

Keith: Art did.

Austin: Oh, you could just move a thing to my name.

Ali: Oh.

Keith: Got it.

Jack: I mean, that is a black chip.

Austin: Oh, yeah, okay. Pick one that—

Ali: Oh, it says positive scene on top of it.

Austin: Oh. Oh! It does!

Jack: Oh, it does! Oh, I guess we flipped it. [Ali laughs]

Austin: I guess we flipped ‘em. Black is positive.

Ali: So, in the future.

Austin: Yes.

Ali: We’re moving a white die if it’s positive, moving a black die if it’s negative?

Austin: No, let’s keep it the way it is. Let’s move a black die. If you hit positive, you hit positive.

Ali: Okay, I'm just gonna put a dice here. I'm just gonna pretend that I did that. [chuckles]

Austin: Wait, but you moved— now you’ve moved a negative dice, there.

Ali: Oh, okay.

Austin: Are you moving a positive dice or— okay.

Keith: But it’s in the positive spot.

Ali: Yeah.

Austin: Yeah, well, but we need them...we need to pick one color, and stick with it.

Ali: Okay.

Austin: And so, because it’s written that way on the thing—

Keith: Black positive.

Austin: And just— yeah. And slide it to the person, don’t slide it up top. Slide it to the person.

Ali: Okay.

Keith: Oh, I thought that was a zone, a determined zone.

Ali: Yeah, I thought that was the determination zone.

Austin: Oh, sorry, no. I forgot that y'all never used this setup that I have. So I have the 6 of...the black 6. Now, in this first set of rounds, when it’s resolved, when you have the outcome, in the first act, you hold it up. So, in this case, hey, it’s a black 6. And then you give that die to someone else. [reading] “Give the outcome die to another player.” So, Jack, I'm gonna give you...whoop, I made it big. I made it small again, it’s fine. [someone laughs] Jack, I'm giving you this black 6. “In Act One, you always give away the outcome die if it’s your scene. Give it to any other player you like. This decision has nothing to do with the in-game fiction and everything to do with who you want to support or mess with.” So, yeah. There. That is the scene. That is my first scene. “Take turns. When it it your turn, your character gets a scene.” Jack.

Jack: Yes.

Austin: What is your scene?

Jack: Um...hmm. And I can choose to either establish or…

Austin: Or resolve.

Jack: Or decide how it goes.

Austin: Yes, exactly.

Jack: Yeah. Okay. Okay. Camera just continues to track, following Carly, as she is going down the escalator, just like...and she’s got the bag slung over one shoulder, and she’s got her hand in the bag [Austin: mm-hmm] and is just like playing with the casino chips as she is going down the stairs. And at the bottom of the stairs...hmm, no. We snap cut to her at one of the like public telephone booths in the lobby of the casino.

Austin: Uh huh.

Jack: Putting quarters into the telephone.

Austin: [chuckles] Great.

Jack: And telephoning her friend Herc.

Jack (as Carly): Herc, hi! Hi!

Art (as Herc): Yeah.

Jack (as Carly): Is it a good time? [someone snorts]

Austin: Herc, where are you? What’s the camera see?

Art: Um, well, it’s a...she called me.

Austin: Yeah.

Art: So it seems to be…

Austin: [chuckles] Yeah.

Art: It can’t be somewhere too weird.

Austin: I mean, it could be! If you have established that you two know how to get in touch.

Art: I mean, it could be a pay phone.

Austin: Right. You could just have a pay phone that you know to expect a call form, but.

Art: Yeah. What’s a fun place to have that be?

Jack: Is it the phone in another lobby of a place that he hears ringing and runs to the phone? Like, him coming downstairs from…

Art: Yeah, that’s...um...I think it’s actually— it’s the payphone behind the loading dock at the casino. A payphone that I do not think is gonna last.

Jack: Mmm.

Art: You know, I think they’re gonna figure out they don’t need a payphone.

Austin: [chuckles] Right.

Art: No one needs to make calls here. What is this, even?

Austin: And like, the loading dock has a phone.

Art: Yeah. Uh huh. [Austin laughs]

Jack (as Carly): Herc!

Art (as Herc): Yeah.

Jack (as Carly): You good?

Art (as Herc): Yeah, everything’s fine. They’re loading some stuff in.

Jack (as Carly): Mm-hmm. I just went and saw Nash.

Art (as Herc): Oh yeah? How is he?

Jack (as Carly): You know, he’s thrilled. He’s thrilled. He, uh...he met me in the Nebraska Bar. Can you believe that we’re naming a bar after our family?

Art (as Herc): No, I honestly can’t. [Austin chuckles]

Jack (as Carly): No, I honestly can’t! He says there’s gonna be a plaque in it with our names on, but I don’t know whether or not it’s gonna be like, our names, or it’s just gonna be like, “With thanks to the Nebraska family” or something.

Art (as Herc): Sure, it just seems like that if I'm a tourist here at the beach, the Nebraska Bar isn’t gonna like draw my eye. [Austin laughs]

Jack (as Carly): I know...

Art (as Herc): I'm gonna think you’re serving corn in there. [Keith cackles loudly]

Jack (as Carly): Maybe it’s like a...it’s like a quirky thing. It’s like a, what’s the theme supposed to be? The ocean?

Art (as Herc): Yeah. we’re...it’s an ocean-themed establishment. And it’s real far from the ocean in Nebraska. [Keith laughs]

Jack (as Carly): Yeah, that’s what I'm saying. Maybe it’s like ironic or something. Anyway, do you see that blue van?

Art (as Herc): Uh, yeah.

Jack (as Carly): What do you think’s in that van?

Art (as Herc): Um, I don’t know, cloth napkins?

Jack (as Carly): $500,000.

Art (as Herc): No shit.

Jack (as Carly): $500,000. I'm holding...do you hear this?

Jack: Clink, clink, clink, clink, clink. [Austin laughs]

Art (as Herc): Yeah.

Jack (as Carly): That’s $3,000, Herc.

Art (as Herc): So you got $503,000?

Jack (as Carly): Well, I mean, I guess it’s actually $500,000 minus $3,000, 'cause that’s what’s in my bag right now. It’s chip day, Herc. It’s chip day!

Art (as Herc): It’s 497,000.

Jack (as Carly): Yeah, yeah. [chuckles] So, uh...you know. I've been thinking. $500,000 is a lot of money.

Art (as Herc): Uh, it sure is. More money than I think I've ever seen.

Jack (as Carly): Yeah, so you probably wouldn’t miss a small amount of it, would you?

Art (as Herc): I— [stutters] I would. I think I would miss…

Jack (as Carly): Yeah, but what if you were, say, for example, the owner of the Nebraska Bar in The Albatross Casino?

Art (as Herc): Oh, you’re saying maybe $500,000 just walks away from bars all the time?

Jack (as Carly): No, I'm not saying $500,000 walks away. I'm just thinking of a tip, you know. 'Cause he was like really shitty about it. [Austin laughs]

Art:h Mmm.

Jack (as Carly): I brought the money up, 'cause I couldn’t carry it. 'Cause it’s like— it’s like, super heavy. And I brought it up, and he was like really shitty about it. So, I'm saying, what if...so, I guess I'm asking your advice. Is, what if I just took like a tip? Just like a...a courier’s tip?

Art (as Herc): Um...500,000’s a hell of a tip.

Jack (as Carly): No! No. [Austin  laughs] [laughing] I'm not taking the 500,000. [Keith cackles] Herc, you’re getting caught up on the amount of money that’s here. What I'm saying is, what if...well, you know. What if I just walked away with this bag? I already have it.

Art (as Herc): I mean...yeah, on the first day of a casino, you might be able to get away with that. But if someone wants to look for it, they’re really gonna look.

Jack (as Carly): Are they, though?

Art (as Herc): Well, I mean...that’s like a—

Austin: I already gave a die.

Art (as Herc): It’s like a—

Austin: I already gave a white die.

Keith: Oh, okay.

Austin: A bad die.

Art (as Herc): That’s like a $15,000 check, you know?

Jack (as Carly): Is it, though?

Art (as Herc): Yeah, 'cause you tip %20 of 15,000 would be 3,000.

Jack (as Carly): What? Um. So. [Keith and Austin laugh] I'm saying that if, like...I’m basically saying, you know, you just...you just have to say if you think it’d be viable, Herc. 'Cause, you know, there’s probably something in it for you too.

Art (as Herc): Yeah, I think...I think you could make...I think you could walk away with some of that, for sure. But you gotta be careful.

Jack (as Carly): Wh— me? Of course. I'm always careful. Absolutely.

Jack: Checks out of the casino with my casino badge.

Austin: [laughing] Yeah, uh huh.

Jack: [laughing] Carrying that as I'm talking.

Jack (as Carly): Thank you, have a good day. See you.

Austin: Wait, you can’t have done that.

Keith: Wait. Hold on.

Austin: You’re at a payphone.

Keith: Yeah, there’s— we’re not—

Jack: Oh, shit!

Keith: Yeah, there’s no cell phones.

Jack: I fuckin’ thought I was on a mobile phone! [laughs]

Austin: [chuckles] We’re even before giant big ones, probably.

Jack: I know.

Keith: You could have a radio. Do you have a ham radio?

Jack: No, I like the image of her doing this crime at a casino lobby—

Austin: Uh huh.

Jack: An empty casino lobby. Oh, I guess that’s what it is. The camera just cuts out to like…

Austin: Mm-hmm.

Jack: And empty casino lobby, and a man, you know, walking into the coat check and like putting his bag down, and only catching like the tail end of a conversation.

Austin: Yeah.

Jack: But just like, looking up suddenly.

Austin: We can also have the good stuff of like, you finishing your voiceover...you finishing the conversation via voiceover as we see you check out. Or as we see you like get waved by via security or whatever, you know what I mean? Like.

Jack: I think I have like a, one of those magnetic cards that I swipe through a thing, and it’s just like…

Austin: Right. Do those ex—

Jack: Carlotta so-and-so Nebraska.

Keith: Is that a thing?

Austin: Is that a thing? It can be in Bluff. It can be in Bluff.

Keith: Yeah, sure, yeah.

Jack: Oh, no, I think it’s because I'm leaving through like a staff entrance or I'm going out to the loading dock with—

Austin: No, no, the bit of, like—

Keith: We mean magnetic cards. Do those exist in 1972.

Austin: The magnetic cards and screens that say your name on them.

Jack: Ooh. I think that if they do exist, it’s like some really shitty LED.

Austin: Yeah, that’s what I mean. Yeah, totally.

Jack: Like, yeah.

Austin: It goes like— and also, there’s like a weird noise as if something’s printing, but there’s no printer that you see? So it’s like, it like—

Jack: Yeah, and an actual green light turns on.

Austin: [imitates noisy printer] And then like, yep. [robotically] “Carly. Nebraska.” Yeah, exactly. [chuckles]

Jack: And then the time of day.

Keith: It’s a picture of your signature.

Austin: Also, it says Carleen Nebraska, which is not your name at all.

Jack: Nope! Mm-mm.

Austin: But.

Jack: Probably close enough for law enforcement. [Austin chuckles] So that is a negative.

Austin: Yeah, I've given you a…

Jack: Negative.

Austin: 5. But you now give that die away.

Keith: Wait, I thought that was in round— in Act Two, you give it away.

Austin: No, Act One you give it away.

Jack: No, Act One!

Keith: Oh.

Austin: All the way through Act One.

Jack: Well, Art. [someone chuckles softly]

Art: Yeah.

Jack: Uh, there you go.

Art: Mmm.

Austin: It’s not gonna come up for quite some time, but as a reminder, good endings have high numbers, bad endings have low numbers. And really bad— the way that you get a really bad number is by having your numbers cancel out. So, at the Tilt and at the end, you’re gonna add up all of your white and black die, and then you’re gonna subtract the smaller one from the bigger number. And whatever your number is left, that is going to determine the quality of your ending. So that is just things to think about in the back of your…

Keith: Seems almost random.

Austin: Almost! Almost. Uh, Art. It is your scene. As a reminder—

Art: I like this— oh.

Austin: Just as a reminder, we have the entire breadth of cinematic storytelling at our fingertips. You want to do a flashback, you want to do a flash-forward, you want to do a montage. Do you want to do something else completely unrelated, we totally can.

Art: No, I really want to do this continuous loop through the casino that we’ve started.

Austin: Okay. Uh huh.

Art: Where like, it’s this scene and then down the stairs, a phone call to another part of the casino.

Austin: Yeah, okay.

Art: And then I think it’s just like, Herc gets in the service elevator and goes up to The Crow's Nest where Judy is. And I can bring in other things, right? Like, it’s not just…

Austin: What do you mean? Like, yeah, you could—

Art: Well—

Austin: You can frame kind of anything, here.

Art: Well, it’s more like, can this be a conversation about something that isn’t on this relationship card.

[1:29:49]

Austin: Totally. Absolutely. There’s a lot of great tips in the book around like what establishing a scene looks like. I'll just read this one section, since you’re doing it for the first time, Art. [reading] “If you choose to establish the scene, you have the privilege of acting as director. Who is present? Do any Objects or Locations factor into it? Does it address a Need? When does it take place—is it a flashback, concurrent with other scenes we’ve already played, or at some other time? Establishing scenes is the most common and direct approach. Maybe you absolutely, positively, want to confront the gangster who is terrorizing your boyfriend. Awesome! Put your guy in the middle of the action, frame the scene, and play it out. Look at the cards on the table, consider the emerging story, and pull some elements together. Tap people to play side characters as needed, but be as economical as you can with the stuff that wasn’t authored during setup—always use what you have unless you absolutely need to bring in something else.” So, that is their advice on that style of thing.

Art: Alright. So, I think that this is like...so, it’s opening later today, right?

Austin: Uh, tomorrow. We set up— 36 hours, is what we set up.

Art: Tomorrow. Alright.

Austin: So it’s 8pm. It was 8am when we started, so 8 p.m. tomorrow night is when it opens.

Art: So I think, you know, the service elevator’s of course, like, dingy. You know, even though it hasn’t opened yet. I feel like a service elevator gets dirty in a hurry.

Austin: Yeah.

Art: Just a lot of shit going straight from truck to elevator, and you get this like…

Austin: What I really means is like, stuff gets— stuff is still sticky, right? Like, it’s not even worn in. That gum that’s on your foot just got put there last week. You know? It’s not even like [Art: yeah] five year old gum.

Art: But it’s also like, you know, this elevator has probably only been here two weeks, but there’s already two big scuffs in the wall, you know?

Austin: Mm-hmm, mm-hmm.

Art: From, you know, the guys who move the couches.

Austin: Mm-hmm.

Art: And...you know, the door opens, and it’s this like, elegant suite that’s half ready. Like, the carpeting’s all down, there’s a piano in the corner, there’s a...but like, the chandelier is still on the floor. And like, there’s people just working, working, working. And I think Judy is kind of overseeing the...I don’t know if this is like construction or...but these are probably contractors right?

Austin: Yeah, that sounds right.

Art: Judy is overseeing the hectic work of the people [Ali giggles] finishing up the area, the suite here.

Austin: Is this a situation where it’s like, interior designers and construction workers— like, people from a bunch of different backgrounds are all trying to rush finish the nice penthouse suite?

Art: Yeah, and also probably just like, every spare miscellaneous hotel employee, right?

Austin: [chuckles] Right.

Art: There’s like...there’s housekeepers who are hanging up curtains, and there’s like guys from engineering who are installing a sink.

Austin: Right.

Art: You know, just like, silly— little mismatch out of place. It’s a hectic scene, and it’s, you know, it’s Judy keeping it together. And Herc, who like...I don’t think works at this casino? [Art and Ali chuckle]

Austin: [surprised] Oh. Okay.

Keith: Wait, hold on.

Austin: I thought you were in the like shipping room?

Jack: Uh huh.

Austin: I guess you were not actually in it, you were behind it on the…

Art: The payphone, a public place. I think Herc is just a person who moves through places.

Ali: Mmm.

Art: You know. Like a bookie. [chuckles]

Austin: Mm-hmm.

Art: And he like walks through this scene, kind of like ducking around. Like, you know, someone’s carrying a giant pane of glass, and he’s scooting around it. And there’s like a big piece of wood. I don't know, like, funny construction shit, you know. [Ali laughs]

Austin: Yeah. Uh huh, got it.

Art: We’ve all seen these scenes. And like walks up to Judy and waits for her to say something to someone, and then is like, and says in like a low voice,

Art (as Herc): There’s a lot of action on the fourth race. A lot of action.

Ali (as Judy): Oh, yeah?

Art (as Herc): And it’s all coming in on the same horse.

Ali:Jack: [hushed] Which horse?

Art: I don’t have a horse name right now. I need just a second. [Ali laughs]

Austin: Goddamnit.

Art: Okay.

Art (as Herc): If The Duke of Monte Carlo wins [Austin laughs softly] the fourth race, we could take a real bath. [Ali chuckles]

Ali (as Judy): Well, tomorrow’s gonna be a big day. I have a lot of people already excited to come in. A lot of reservations.

Art (as Herc): Yeah, I have a lot of reservations too.

Ali (as Judy): Do—

Art (as Herc): Oh, wait, you meant, and I meant… [Austin and Keith laugh]

Ali (as Judy): I mean there’s a lot of people coming into the casino tomorrow.

Art (as Herc): Yeah, whereas I meant I'm having second thoughts on this.

Ali (as Judy): Oh.

Art (as Herc): I don’t know if we need to shorten up some odds, or if we need to just maybe take it off.

Ali (as Judy): I thought you said this was fine! You just said we’d [hushed] take a bath. [Austin laughs]

Art (as Herc): No, taking a bath is bad. [Ali laughs]

Ali (as Judy): Wait.

Austin (as worker with New Jersey accent): Wait, is something wrong with the bath? [Art and Ali chuckles] Excu— uh, wait a second. Wait a second. I thought I was done here. You’re sayin’ the bath isn’t workin’. The bath’s not workin’?

Art (as Herc): No, I'm saying baths don’t work for me.

Austin (as worker): The bath doesn’t work for him. What do you mean the bath doesn’t work for him?

Ali (as Judy): He prefers showers.

Austin (as worker): Judy, you told me to put in a big bathtub!

Ali (as Judy): Yeah, for the high rollers!

Austin (as worker): [relieved] Okay. High rollers, they still like bathtubs. [Ali chuckles]

Ali (as Judy): Yeah.

Austin (as worker): Okay.

Art (as Herc): Everyone likes a bathtub. [Ali chuckles] It’s a beautiful thing to look at.

Austin (as worker): You said a— but you said a bath was a bad thing!

Art (as Herc): I think— I don’t like to take baths.

Austin (as worker): You keep weird company, Judy.

Ali (as Judy): What are you listening in on my conversations for, anyway?

Austin (as worker): Sorry, you said one of my magic words.

Ali (as Judy): Get to work. Get to work!

Austin (as worker): Sorry! Sorry, sorry.

Art: His magic words? This guy listens anytime someone says bath? [Austin and Ali laugh]

Austin: [laughs] I told you not to fuck around with Hal.

Ali: [chuckles] He gave me a deal on the bath. [laughs]

Art: Hal “The Bathtub Man” Bastriani. [Austin and Ali laugh]

Austin: That’s him! That was Hal!

Ali (as Judy): Okay, bath’s aren’t good. I thought being clean was a positive. But—

Art (as Herc): [stumbles over words] Well, like— I think to— I mean, I don’t know where it comes from, but to take a bath means you lose a lot of money.

Ali (as Judy): Well, I don’t want to lose a lot of money, so what do we do?

Art (as Herc): I don’t know! We need to know what these people know.

Ali (as Judy): [frustrated noise] What people?

Art (as Herc): People! Connected people. [Ali laughs softly]

Ali (as Judy): Well, tell me who I have to talk to.

Art (as Herc): I don’t know who’s telling the people, but like…

Ali (as Judy): Well, who told you?

Art (as Herc): I— no one told me. People have just been— a lot of people have been coming to me and putting these bets on.

Ali (as Judy): Well. [sighs] I can’t get any bookings until tomorrow, so what am I supposed to do?

Art (as Herc): I don’t know if there’s anything we can do, I just wanted to tell you it’s happening.

Austin: Black die. Positive scene. [Ali laughs] Yeah, spin it.

Art: Um...

Art (as Herc): I don’t know. Who’s that pit boss you got? Uh, Jimmy? You got a pit boss Jimmy?

Ali (as Judy): Yeah. I think Jimmy’s gonna be here for the opening.

Art (as Herc): Yeah, well, he put 20 large on this race. Maybe see what he knows.

Ali (as Judy): Yeah. He’d open up to me.

Art (as Herc): Great. Love it. And, um...you know, if you need help, Carly down at the bar is a good egg.

Ali (as Judy): I don’t need eggs! I need information.

Art (as Herc): Oh my god. [Austin, Ali, and Keith laugh]

Austin (as Hal): Wait, you’re saying I should get rid of the eggs in here, too? I filled the fridge with eggs! [laughter continues]

Art (as Herc): [incredulous] You filled the fridge with eggs?

Ali (as Judy): It’s good protein. Don’t— it’s fine. It’s fine. Everybody loves a casino egg.