Gaming as a Grownup is a Dream... ~ PAX East, DesiQuest, Munchkin vs Gulab Jamun - (A·B·C·D) Sn2 Ep2

Our latest episode captures the highs and lows of PAX East in Boston, where Omar Najam and Sandeep Parikh left our live streaming habitat for the bustling convention floor. Wander with us through the maze of game developers, dice booths, and the inevitable mishaps along the way. But it's not all chaos; we're dishing out the scoop on Dispel Dice's newest treasures that are a dream for gamers and pet owners. We even tackle the heavyweight bout of snack food: Dunkin' Munchkins versus Gulab Jamun – a debate you won't want to miss.

There's nothing quite like the energy of Anjali Bhimani's storytelling, which brings a magnetic vibe to our conversation.  We mull over a possible "Auntie vs. Auntie" presidential race in 2024, poking fun at the political circus with our own "doomsday clock." The cultural tapestry woven by aunties in our lives is rich and vibrant, and this chat is a testament to their legendary status in problem-solving and impact. 

Imagine the odds of bumping into not one, but multiple Sandeeps, and the ensuing "name-game" banter that unfolds. Plus, we're pulling in our buddy Neeraj Shah to discuss what's sweet and what's sweeter when it comes to dessert debates. As the episode winds down, we can't help but shine a spotlight on the folks who make our podcast a reality – from the production team to our generous supporters. It's a joyous wrap-up to an episode brimming with laughter, camaraderie, and the kind of memories that only come from experiences like PAX East.

Transcript

Omar Najam: 0:00

Well, hello everyone. Ho ho ho. Look at this.

Sandeep Parikh: 0:04

Yeah, this is exciting. Hey, I am. I'm Sundeep. I'm going to introduce myself this time. Usually, we introduce each other, but today's a special episode, we do, yeah.

Omar Najam: 0:11

This is a special. I'm Omer Najam, and this is a special because normally we would be on Twitch, we'd be live, we'd be playing some games. Delvin would be telling us that we're doing something incorrectly in the game.

Sandeep Parikh: 0:22

And he'd be right. Yeah, he'd be correct, but today we're changing it up. We went to PAX East in Boston and we decided to film some of our shenanigans there instead, so we're giving you this as a special episode.

Omar Najam: 0:34

That's right. That's right. We hung out with a bunch of game developers. We got to chat with some folks who make dice. We even ran into a couple of our friends along the way.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 0:42

We filmed the whole thing and we cut it together.

Omar Najam: 0:45

Yeah, we have a couple of friends. You'll see all of them, that's right.

Sandeep Parikh: 0:50

All four of them, including my new friend, because I got mind flayed, that's right. Yeah, so enjoy that. All right Well without further ado here it is our adventures in Boston at. Pax East. Hey, everyone, hi. Oh, welcome to the ABCD Pocket. You thought you were in Boston, but no, I mean you are.

Omar Najam: 1:12

You are actually, so you're correct.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:14

Yeah, but you thought you were flying through Boston. Yeah, it turns out you're flying through our minds here at the Westin. That's right, historic Westin. I have no idea if it's historic. Yeah, sam Adams built it himself With his bare hands With his bare hands. But we are here live at PAX East, which is a big video game convention in Boston, and we're gonna go check out some stuff.

Omar Najam: 1:32

We got a panel later today, but first we wanna take you around the floor. So come on, let's go. Let's go, let's go to Boston.

Sandeep Parikh: 1:52

Okay, so of course we're in Boston, so we're going to have to have a Dunkin' Donuts booth.

Omar Najam: 1:57

Yes, you're right, it has to be a thing Right here. Check this out. We got our Dunkies our precious Dunkies.

Sandeep Parikh: 2:02

We got a Dunkkeys activation. Yeah, where people are, it's like, it's pretty cool, let's go look at it. Let's go look at it real quick. Okay, so here's what's happening, as you can see, right, people throwing a ball at a wall of donuts that are popping up on a sort of pressurized screen. Pretty good stuff, all right. All right. Pressurized screen.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 2:23

Pretty good stuff.

Sandeep Parikh: 2:24

Alright, alright, it's kind of taking like Duck Hunt to the next level. Yeah to the next donut yeah To the next donut, of course we have to have a this versus that right.

Omar Najam: 2:32

Yeah, yeah.

Sandeep Parikh: 2:33

So look, we're in Boston. Our this versus that. This time Okay Is gonna be the Dunkin Donuts Munchkin. Okay Versus the Gulab Jamun.

Omar Najam: 2:43

Okay.

Sandeep Parikh: 2:43

Which is basically a munchkin smothered in syrup. Yeah, yeah. That's great. So we're just going to ask random people what their feelings are on those and determine once and for all what does Boston love more?

Omar Najam: 2:57

Yeah, who should we ask? First how about the mind flayer? Let's ask the mind flayer.

Sandeep Parikh: 3:03

You want a munchkin or a glob jamun Mind Flayer. Let's ask the Mind Flayer Want a munchkin or a glab jabba? Mind Flayer, glab jabba. You heard it here first. The Mind Flayer flayed me and definitely said glab jabba.

Omar Najam: 3:16

That's amazing. Yeah, yeah, Alright so that's one vote already.

Sandeep Parikh: 3:19

He's a big Indian food fan.

Omar Najam: 3:20

That's beautiful. Thank you for your service. Thank you, Mime.

Sandeep Parikh: 3:23

Flare, and now he lives forever in my id.

Omar Najam: 3:25

Oh, that's beautiful, it's going to be good.

Sandeep Parikh: 3:35

Hey, we're here with Travis at the Dispel Dice booth. Yes, aren't we, Hi Travis, hi guys, hi guys. What are you holding?

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 3:40

So I've got one of our Mimic chests, our Dispel Dice dog toys Very popular at this con. So the chest comes with three coins, all squeaky. And how many different dog toys were you selling? We have three different dog toys. We have our Red Dragon, which is unfortunately sold out, along with the gelatinous cube we also have our mimic, which we still have in stock.

Omar Najam: 4:03

And, of course, you've got, you know, your dice, which are some of my favorite dice that I have in my collection. Are these new guys here, these?

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 4:10

are the new guys, so we have some new sets here at PAX. I want to show you guys, our parties, our class sets. Okay, so we have our damage per second set DPS. Yes, we have our healer set.

Sandeep Parikh: 4:25

These are awesome and we have our tank set.

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 4:28

All of these come with an accompanying candle made by Cantrip.

Omar Najam: 4:31

You're joking Our friends at Cantrip.

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 4:33

Yes, great guys over there.

Sandeep Parikh: 4:35

What makes these things so deadly sharp, Like I feel like they're powerful and I could?

Omar Najam: 4:40

do some real, actual DPS, like as you roll, the table is getting like yeah, we would not recommend that litigation might come.

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 4:47

Oh god, as you say it, he does, oh god.

Omar Najam: 4:51

For those listening. Sandeep has knocked over the entire display here at PAX East he sure did, okay, okay, first roll of the game.

Sandeep Parikh: 4:57

I got a one. I'm actually a one. I think that sounds about right.

Omar Najam: 5:02

Where can everyone find more stuff of all Dispel online we are?

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 5:05

currently selling DispelDicecom. We have a store on Etsy and Amazon now Beautiful, look at that.

Sandeep Parikh: 5:11

All right, and then our final question that we've got to ask right, Because this is ABCD podcast.

Omar Najam: 5:16

American Born Chatty Daisy, so it's a South Asian focus. Okay, okay, conversation.

Sandeep Parikh: 5:25

So we've we gotta ask you what would you rather have, this versus that, a Dunkin' Donuts munchkin or an Indian glob jammer?

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 5:31

I have not had that before, okay, so I would try it.

Sandeep Parikh: 5:35

They're like syrupy munchkins, basically. Have you ever seen that? I have not.

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 5:40

But I'm down to try it. I would rather try something new than try something I've never tried before. I would rather try something new than try something I haven't done before.

Sandeep Parikh: 5:45

I love that. So, sight unseen, we gotta vote for Globjammin.

Omar Najam: 5:49

Our first non-Mind Flayer vote for Globjammin.

Sandeep Parikh: 5:51

Thank you.

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 5:52

Thank you so much for having us. It's been a pleasure.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 6:03

So my name is Sainaf. We manufacture board games for Exploding Kittens, big Potato, so all those sort of things. We do design development for them. But this is our next Kickstarter. It's called Shape Invaders.

Sandeep Parikh: 6:15

I've got to ask you about this game, because this game reminds me of playing Karim as a kid.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 6:23

So I basically grew up playing Karim my whole life. So this is essentially Karim for the western market. But the big thing with Karim is you need a bigger, you need like a huge board essentially, and my board's, like the one at home, is like three generations old.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 6:35

But they cost a lot of money. So the whole aim with Shape Invaders is that you can play a flicking game game, a dexterity game on any table you want. So we manufacture them in a certain way that had like a low surface contact area. So even if you had like a wobbly board or like a bumpy board or a bumpy table, you can play the game. Essentially, you're trying to get rid of your opponent's motherships off the table, so you're flicking pieces, exactly. Yeah, you guys should definitely check out. Check us out on shapeinvadersgamecom.

Sandeep Parikh: 7:06

We have to ask you. We do a thing on our show called this vs that, when we compare a chai vs a coffee.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 7:14

A lazy thing vs an.

Neeraj Shah: 7:15

American thing Because we're in Boston.

Sandeep Parikh: 7:18

It's the Dunkin Donuts munchkin vs the glob donuts. What do you choose and be honest?

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 7:24

The munchkin. The thing is it might be different because Tamil or Sri Lankan glob jamun is so sweet and I quite like the munchkins. Actually In the UK we don't get Dunkin Donuts.

Omar Najam: 7:40

Right. So this is an exotic. Yeah, exactly, yeah, right.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 7:44

This is their glob job.

Sandeep Parikh: 7:46

Yeah, pretty much it makes sense I got to be honest. Yeah, I'm on team Munchkin.

Omar Najam: 7:51

I'm going to be honest, I'm team Munchkin, you guys.

Sandeep Parikh: 7:53

I'm with you, man, I think it's too sweet.

Omar Najam: 7:55

What is this we can't do?

Sandeep Parikh: 7:57

this. It's too sweet. You're dipping in sweet syrup. Yes, it's the syrup. Yes, you are.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 8:03

The thing is, I can have maybe like two or three in one go, but then I'm like I can't have any more than this.

Sandeep Parikh: 8:09

I'm out for like a month. Yeah, exactly, it's like jalebi as well.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 8:14

I can have like two at max, and then I'm like someone, please help me, I look at do jalebi versus jelly beans.

Omar Najam: 8:19

Yeah, that's a comparison.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 8:29

Awesome.

Omar Najam: 8:29

Thank you again so much for letting us hang out. It was great.

Sandeep Parikh: 8:37

Okay, when you're trying to interview someone very famous and a big deal like Anjali, you have to, you know, work around the adoring fans that are gonna try to grab some pictures with her, and that's just like. That's just like the deal. We're just talking about your fame right now, Anjali.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 8:54

Fame. I wanna live forever, Whoa.

Omar Najam: 8:57

Where'd this come from, Not I would love to have a life hey.

Sandeep Parikh: 9:01

Do not have the rights to that song.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 9:03

We're so screwed.

Sandeep Parikh: 9:04

We're so happy to have Anjali finally here at PAX. She had a whole saga to get here it only took me four flights. Oh, my God.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 9:12

Getting bumped four times.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 9:14

But I got it I am here.

Anjali Bhimani: 9:15

I've had a little bit of tricky life with travel lately, but I feel like I'm here at the right time.

Sandeep Parikh: 9:20

You're here in time for a panel which is like what really matters, like honestly, come and buy more dice. Obviously I need more dice from misty mountain gaming who sponsored us to be here too. So we love them. We love misty mountain gaming. We're doing a little segment. It's called auntie versus auntie watch 2024, and we thought we had to bring the baddest auntie of them all, yep, to here to to figure this out. Okay, so that?

Anjali Bhimani: 9:45

auntie is here for you. Let's go.

Sandeep Parikh: 9:46

Now listen, we're not necessarily politics guys in general, but what sort of struck us about this 2024 presidential race was we are technically two heartbeats away from there being two aunties going head to head Nikki Haley, right Technically an auntie, kamala Kamala. Aunt Kamala Kamala auntie. Much more listen, listen. However you feel about either of them. The point is it would be historic. It was auntie versus auntie Right so our metric right now is that we're doing a watch like a doomsday clock metric right now is that we're doing a watch like a doomsday clock.

Omar Najam: 10:24

Yeah, imagine like an auntie with like two arms an hour. Actually don't worry about the other arm, it's just one. It's just an hour.

Sandeep Parikh: 10:29

Yeah, but we're going in reverse, because the way like a doomsday clock, when it hits midnight it's bad news, doom right. For us if it's auntie versus auntie, probably a better scenario.

Anjali Bhimani: 10:40

Kind of win-win. Here's the thing about aunties too. For all of the bad rap that they get, my aunties are dope as fuck. They are the best they are always there for you in a pinch, and they get things done.

Sandeep Parikh: 10:52

That's right.

Anjali Bhimani: 10:53

You want to get something done, give it to an auntie.

Sandeep Parikh: 10:55

That's right.

Anjali Bhimani: 10:55

She may judge you for how you're doing it wrong. She'll do it oh not, may she will just take it out of your hands and do it. Yeah, 100%.

Sandeep Parikh: 11:04

She'll get it done. Right now it's at 11.57. It's very close to doomsday. They're both running against you. They're Biden versus Trump right now. The aunties are.

Omar Najam: 11:14

Some updates right.

Sandeep Parikh: 11:16

There are some updates. Not a ton, but there are some updates, some legal stuff that's going on and everything. What time would you put us at?

Omar Najam: 11:25

Between noon and midnight Noon, being auntie versus auntie.

Anjali Bhimani: 11:29

I feel like 11.58. We're close.

Sandeep Parikh: 11:32

Between, for what? For it's remaining not auntie versus auntie right.

Anjali Bhimani: 11:36

No, tell me, I don't quite understand. We're going. Okay, I know, I know it's confusing, it's a terrible convoluted system.

Sandeep Parikh: 11:42

If we get to 1 o'clock, that means it's basically auntie versus auntie. Right now we're at close to 12. Because it's probably going to be Biden versus.

Omar Najam: 11:50

Trump 1pm is good auntie versus auntie Midnight is bad. I feel like we're 2020.

Sandeep Parikh: 11:56

You think we're going back. Do you think that like?

Anjali Bhimani: 11:58

No, I think we're going in the direction. I think we're going in the right direction. Okay, towards 1 pm. I'm trying to be bipartisan while I say this, but it might be the only silver lining in my personal opinion of that situation, so we should knock it back an hour for Anjali's blessing.

Omar Najam: 12:20

Yes, 11 pm.

Sandeep Parikh: 12:22

We're at 11 pm Instead of 11.57,. We're going to knock it back 57 minutes to 11 pm. Does that sound? 11 pm Instead of 11 57? We're gonna knock it back 57 minutes to 11 pm. Does that sound good? Sure, because I still don't understand the system. Great Because it's very convoluted. It doesn't make any sense.

Anjali Bhimani: 12:32

But you know what Auntie's are, complicated people too, you know?

Sandeep Parikh: 12:34

Yeah, it's true, that's right.

Anjali Bhimani: 12:36

They're very complicated on the inside.

Sandeep Parikh: 12:37

Alright, we're at 11 pm, we're getting there.

Omar Najam: 12:53

Hey everyone, we're here with Xander from Fantasy Flight Games. How's it going?

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 12:57

I'm doing great. It's been a wonderful time here at PAX East Beautiful.

Omar Najam: 13:01

You're here with Star Wars Unlimited, correct? I'm?

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 13:03

here with Star Wars Unlimited. So yeah, we're showing off the brand new trading card game. It's been about two weeks since the release, so it's been really fun.

Omar Najam: 13:09

God, that's amazing For folks who don't know what Star Wars Unlimited is. What would be a two-sent you would give?

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 13:14

Star Wars Unlimited is a fast paced, strategic trading card game. It has it's full of iconic characters, vehicles, moments from the Star Wars galaxy that really will bring in long time Star Wars fans as well as fans of trading card games.

Omar Najam: 13:27

And you also have a just in the mechanic of you have like an aerial attack situation as well as a land base, right?

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 13:32

Yes, so it's very Star Wars in that you are going in space and ground simultaneously, you know, fighting for aerial dominance, like you said.

Omar Najam: 13:39

And also you have your troops on the ground doing their best job to control the battlefield. The third act of every Star Wars movie.

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 13:43

yeah, Exactly, it is the epitome of Star Wars there.

Omar Najam: 13:46

You have a bunch of Rogue One features which I love because I'm a big Rogue One fan. Might be a contentious opinion, but it made me very happy, Is it?

Sandeep Parikh: 13:53

It's a contentious opinion. I know people who get really huge about Rogue One. Well, Star Wars everyone.

Omar Najam: 13:57

Thank you Okay great.

Sandeep Parikh: 13:59

Yes, yeah, me too. I think it's the best of the sort of prequel. I mean not just because I'm friends with Gary Whitta and I'm contractually obligated to say that. Yes, yeah.

Omar Najam: 14:09

Well, we'll have to play at some point. We've got to play. But for right now, in terms of 1v, we have a little game we're playing around the convention floor today on ABCD American born Teddy Daisy's. We take an iconically American thing and then juxtapose against an iconically South Asian thing and you to choose one Okay, the Dunkin Donuts munchkin or a glob Jamin.

Sandeep Parikh: 14:32

Okay, it's a popular dessert. It's like their little balls, like dough balls, that are in syrup, yeah, and in like a rose syrup, so yeah.

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 14:39

I'm gonna have to go with that because I love rose syrup. Wow, I am in on it, and that's coming from a big fan of the munchkin.

Omar Najam: 14:47

Oh, look at that.

Sandeep Parikh: 14:48

But yeah, I would have to say I'm in, we've converted a munchkin head into a glob joblin head.

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 14:53

I'm so sorry, Munchkin heads out there, give it a try. Thank you I love that, give it a try.

Omar Najam: 14:59

Well, thank you so much, and we can't wait to play more.

Sandeep Parikh: 15:00

Yes, thank you so much. Awesome, great to see your con. This is perfect. This is what I was hoping to happen, right?

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 15:12

when we're recording the.

Sandeep Parikh: 15:13

ABCD podcast.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 15:14

We got KP right here in the flesh.

Sandeep Parikh: 15:18

Dude, how was your con?

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 15:20

It went really well. I had a lot of fun. This was my first ever PAX East.

Sandeep Parikh: 15:24

Same here, same oh man PAX East versions Look at that.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 15:27

Yeah, this is all the daisies at PAX East.

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 15:30

We're breaking it.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 15:31

We're breaking in no it was a lot of fun. I got to do a panel yesterday, which was great, amazing. I'm here to do photos. It was about networking in the space. It was called Charisma Check, which I liked a lot. But it was all about how to network in the space, how to connect with folks without overstepping your boundaries, oh yeah, For example, asking to be on a podcast as they're about to leave the convention. No, no, or my brother carrying their bags.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 15:56

This was actually a perfect example of a good way, because we already had a good connection. We knew each other and we knew that we were safe around each other and this is a nice hey. We're trying to help each other, uplift all of us Versus. Like you know, you might have someone who's never met you before. Come up and be like let me present to you 30 minutes of all the cool things that I do, and then can you help me and you're just like I'm just trying to eat my sandwich, bro. Thank you, I'm just trying to shake one out and leave. I'm so sorry. Shake one out.

Sandeep Parikh: 16:25

I'm stealing that term for you, for people who don't know you. Can you tell them all about you? Oh my God.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 16:32

And here's where the imposter syndrome comes in. But we're're gonna say F you to that and say my name is KP. I go by KP 11 studios and all your social medias. I'm a photographer, voice actor, culture consultant, performer on a piece and otherwise, as well as a writer on various projects, all of them fairly decent. I'm not gonna say I'm the best at them, but it is good enough and I'm proud of it. So there we are no no, no, it's.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 16:59

It's all people are. It's a group effort. It's all I'm gonna be the best. Yeah, breakout, stop marks. Amazing, wonderful, let's go break it out. Yes, whenever you're uncomfortable, break out the Indian accent, right your photography style is incredible.

Omar Najam: 17:16

I would go so far say iconic like when you see KP. You know it's KP stuff. Yeah, there's very few photographers. I know that you could say that when? You're like, you can look at this person's work and be like I know exactly who did this.

Sandeep Parikh: 17:29

And this is not just us sucking up to try to get free photos from KP. Bro, it's fun Okay, we found a Reka in the wild.

Omar Najam: 17:42

It's hard Okay, we found a Reka in the wild, hey, and you know what that means. When you find a Reka, we get free samples of food.

Sandeep Parikh: 17:47

That's right. Let's go. When you find a Lado Ante in the wild, you get free samples.

Anjali Bhimani: 17:51

Oh my god. My aunt used to release me into Sam's Club like a wild animal for the sample.

Omar Najam: 17:56

Okay, so take us through this. What is coffee? So?

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 17:57

they have a home blend and they have a light blend.

Sandeep Parikh: 18:01

Okay, okay, I've already studied it.

Omar Najam: 18:03

You're asking what coffee is? Yeah, it's bean water.

Omar Najam: 18:06

Okay, that's coffee, wow, yeah.

Anjali Bhimani: 18:09

You grind up, so you get your beans, you give them a wash, you roast them.

Omar Najam: 18:13

So it's like an aquafaba sort of situation.

Anjali Bhimani: 18:14

Huh, I'm excited to try this coffee.

Omar Najam: 18:17

Which one are you looking forward to the most? I?

Anjali Bhimani: 18:18

would like the Home Blood. Okay, and now I can't tell you why it? Said it was comforting. Yeah, so that sounds nice, because home is comforting sometimes. Sometimes it can be stressful, home Blood.

Omar Najam: 18:23

You're getting the house blend. You said something. Well to be honest if. I'm being honest, I actually was already at this booth, I would home blood.

Sandeep Parikh: 18:35

So yes, he's back, Wait, but now you have to pretend to be somebody else to get another free sample.

Neeraj Shah: 18:38

Yeah.

Sandeep Parikh: 18:38

No.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 18:39

I don't, they know.

Anjali Bhimani: 18:40

I'm sick, I actually said.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 18:42

I'm like I said.

Anjali Bhimani: 18:42

I'm sick and they saw the mastermind. You're sick, I'm like no, no no, no, I'm mentally sick.

Sandeep Parikh: 18:46

Maybe they just I need to have more coffee. Parents, they don't understand that.

Sainath @ Shape Invaders: 18:54

My dad is so profoundly embarrassing with samples.

Omar Najam: 18:57

Yeah, yes, it's sample culture.

Anjali Bhimani: 19:01

My dad would cut the line and ask for one of each 100%.

Sandeep Parikh: 19:06

My dad. He now just literally and this is not a joke he loves tiny spoons. Okay, and so whenever we go to any ice cream place and they give you a free sample, he doesn't ask anymore, he just goes I'm taking this, I'm taking this.

Omar Najam: 19:20

Like at Salt and Straw. He would just be like and it's used.

Sandeep Parikh: 19:23

It's the spoon they gave him and they're not plastic, they're like metal spoons or whatever.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 19:26

Yeah, actual spoons.

Sandeep Parikh: 19:27

And then he will, I'm not even kidding, that's theft.

Omar Najam: 19:36

He goes, I'm going to about it. That's robbery. Yeah, that's Like a bank. Robbery isn't legal because someone's like chick-chick.

Sandeep Parikh: 19:42

No, that's not true. I'm taking it. Yeah, If you tell them it's actually a law, I'm gonna Hi, Hello how's it going?

Omar Najam: 19:47

We fought. You're a legend.

Anjali Bhimani: 19:53

I love you. I'm, can you say that into?

Sandeep Parikh: 19:54

the recording microphone.

Anjali Bhimani: 19:55

Hi, my name is Catherine Linehan, For the legal record. I am a huge fan.

Sandeep Parikh: 20:04

Okay, guess what? I found another Sandeep. Hello, my name is Sandeep Shashihadhan Nice to meet you, and I'm Sandeep Parikh. Oh, my gosh, this is very exciting for me Very exciting, you know yeah yeah, yeah. How many other Sandeeps have you found in the line that? Only one of us only. Where did you find this other? That's a tennis court, Okay and who's the better somebody?

Sandeep Parikh: 20:21

This guy yeah yeah, yeah, but he's probably a better tennis player, was he nasty? Also an uncle, damn. I just got slammed by the other somebody at the younger, sexier, cooler somebody. Okay, we're gonna do some this versus that with our web designer, the web designer of daisyquestcom who we found here at the convention, neeraj Shah, that's right, and also fellow New Hampshireite. We're both the two Indians from New Hampshire.

Neeraj Shah: 20:54

I don't know if you know this. Look at that. We're from there and we made it out.

Sandeep Parikh: 20:56

You're goddamn right, Neeraj. Hey, welcome to the ABCD podcast. Thanks for having me.

Neeraj Shah: 21:01

It's good to be here.

Sandeep Parikh: 21:02

I think technically, we did some research on where the podcast is being downloaded and there's like 16 downloads from Somerville. Is that you?

Neeraj Shah: 21:11

It could be. You know, I just talked to you.

Sandeep Parikh: 21:19

We want to talk about us. How did we do at the panel? We just walked out of our DesiQuest panel and I want to know from your perspective are you happy that you're web designing for us, or are you like wishing I never did this? Yeah.

Neeraj Shah: 21:31

Okay, admittedly I'm biased, but I do think that was my favorite panel of the entire weekend. Yeah, yeah, yeah, and I'm not just saying that to suck up to you guys, but genuinely, like it was very insightful, very fun. Really appreciated all your answers.

Omar Najam: 21:53

Glad.

Neeraj Shah: 21:53

I could be here for it. Awesome, thank you. That's so wonderful. That's great, because we also rushed on a minute before it started. Yeah, yeah.

Sandeep Parikh: 21:58

Yeah, we're almost too on time. Okay, another quick thing about near it before we jump jump into our game is that Neeraj is not just designing websites, which you should do with him if you so choose but he's a stand-up comedian, inspired me to do more stand-up myself super funny dude and we animated a show together a billion years ago for Nerdist. Tell the fans a little bit about our history.

Neeraj Shah: 22:23

We've known each other what since 2008. So, it's been a minute.

Sandeep Parikh: 22:28

Yeah.

Neeraj Shah: 22:28

Yeah, we worked together. Game Off was our show.

Sandeep Parikh: 22:31

Game Off was our show.

Neeraj Shah: 22:32

That was a lot of fun. That was a really good time. Wish we could have gotten back and done some more of that.

Sandeep Parikh: 22:37

It was about two Goombas in Mario and what they're doing in the moments before they get stomped. Every episode by Mario, it's really fun.

Neeraj Shah: 22:47

Well, former stand-up, I haven't performed in a little bit. I'm glad to know that I inspired Sundy, because I say this truly honestly in less than a year you've gotten better than I have in doing it for nearly a decade. Stop.

Sandeep Parikh: 23:03

Stop Go nearly a decade. Stop, stop, go on, stop, stop, keep going Some most improved.

Omar Najam: 23:07

I see what you're saying. Basically all right.

Sandeep Parikh: 23:11

Now we've got to get serious. Yeah, okay, we're going to play a little game. This is what we do on the show, as you may or may not know, is the 16 downloads from Somerville, massachusetts, where you play this versus that, and today's this versus that, in honor of being in Boston, is Dunkin' Donuts, munchkins versus Gulab Jamun, and you gotta be real about this. Okay, no pandering, and you are from the area, so I feel like this should be interesting. Where do you land and why?

Neeraj Shah: 23:39

This is a tough call, but also it's Gulab Jamun all the way, because that's not a tough call at all yes. Gulab Jamun is one of the premier Indian treats. It is perfect, everyone loves it. A munchkin.

Omar Najam: 23:55

Everyone.

Sandeep Parikh: 23:57

Some of them are good, some of them are bad.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 24:00

I just like the efficiency of like hey stop throwing out those, the middles.

Sandeep Parikh: 24:05

We can do something with this. They're not throwing out that. You roll it back in and you get more rings. No, in my fantasy they take all the, they were all throwing them out. And then some genius. In this research that you did purely in your own head. As a four-year-old who discovered them, I thought they were actually donut holes.

Omar Najam: 24:21

Okay, you make this the big circle and then you make a little circle and they roll into a ball and they go yeah, they toss them.

Neeraj Shah: 24:28

That's right. Okay, so if a jelly munchkin is the middle of a jelly donut, why doesn't all the jelly just leak out of it?

Sandeep Parikh: 24:33

Listen, my six-year-old self had an answer for this. It was probably something around magic.

Neeraj Shah: 24:39

Do you have like your journals from when?

Sandeep Parikh: 24:40

you were six, could go back to your notes, and it's all.

Neeraj Shah: 24:42

Munchkins.

Omar Najam: 24:43

It looks like the Zodiac Killer stuff. It's actually really disturbing.

Sandeep Parikh: 24:45

All right, fine, I'm getting clearly crushed in this game. Thanks, neeraj.

Neeraj Shah: 24:49

Thank you so much for everything you do for the show. Hey, thanks for having me, thanks for talking to me and thanks for doing this. It's fantastic, all right well soon on the ABCD podcast.

Sandeep Parikh: 25:09

This is the beauty of PAX we get to run into buddies that are from the streams that you forget how much taller they are than you in real life.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 25:16

Sorry about it, I'm a giant. So here we are with Critical Barn.

Sandeep Parikh: 25:19

Yes, you can find them all over Twitch Yep, sometimes, sometimes, sometimes. What does that mean? Things change. I'm lazy, okay lazy accomplice.

Omar Najam: 25:27

You're busy, you're right. You're right? Uh, dude, how's?

Sandeep Parikh: 25:30

your bench being going and give us a highlight. What's a highlight?

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 25:33

and a low light maybe oh, a highlight and a low light. Uh, the low light is these prices, cancer. Highlight is honestly seeing all the people in the community uh, again, we don't get to really be face to face. Yeah, especially because of the pandemic yeah we're slowly getting out of our shell, uh, starting to see each other, uh. But I've had a good time because the panel is about toxic masculinity yeah, that's the people that's been beating your pro exactly.

Omar Najam: 25:59

That's amazing and it's so important, especially in the space. I mean think back five, seven years ago. Yeah, right, this was, and even, and before that it was so important, especially in this space. I mean think back five, seven years ago, right, this was, and before that it was so much worse, it was a wasteland.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 26:07

Yeah, and so much has changed.

Omar Najam: 26:09

Yeah.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 26:09

The world is starting to respect that gamer culture is an actual thing and people can make this their careers.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 26:14

Yeah, which is even better, yeah.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 26:16

And it's so diverse it's not all just cis white dudes Like it's. Like y'all are cute. I love you, but you can like step in the back, right. But I'm really happy with how things are going, especially in the gaming industry, and it's only gonna keep growing from here.

Sandeep Parikh: 26:29

So that's what I'm telling you. Where are you going? What's next for you? What are you-.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 26:33

What's next is my bed.

Sandeep Parikh: 26:34

Yeah.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 26:35

Next to my bed would be a deck of magic cards.

Omar Najam: 26:38

Yes.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 26:38

And a. So that's what's next for me, okay.

Omar Najam: 26:40

Beautiful. Get that potassium A little bit.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 26:42

Yeah, I guess, never mind, I'm not going to go there.

Sandeep Parikh: 26:45

Okay, I wasn't sure, maybe you can set. This is the last thing. You settle a debate. We do a little segment on our podcast. We're two South Asians, you know, doing a podcast together, so we always do this versus that. Yeah, take an against each other. So we're surveying the field about this, okay. So of course, we're in Beantown, we're in Boston, the land of Dunkin' Donuts, so we chose the Dunkin' Donut Munchkin versus the Indian Sweet Gulab Jamun. And it's okay. If you haven't tried it, I have. Okay.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 27:17

And it wins. Yes, it's nice.

Sandeep Parikh: 27:26

Here and like here's the thing Munchkins are cute, overrated. I do love Dunkin'. I do super sweet, we do love Dunkin'. In case you want to sponsor us, we absolutely love your.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 27:29

Dunkin' yeah, sponsor us, sponsor us, but there's something about what is the kind of. I don't want to butcher it. I'm not getting cast on 2024. Gulab Jamun, gulab Jamun, thank you, it was so fresh and the brand All of it. Yeah, I want that again, okay.

Sandeep Parikh: 27:42

Okay, all right, you heard it here.

Omar Najam: 27:52

Critical, critical barn. It goes. Gulab Jamun Yep, huge, huge vote, thank you. Thank you for being right time to check with the chakra. Okay, I like that. Like that here at the end of packs right, we're closing out Pax East right end of Sunday.

Sandeep Parikh: 27:58

Things are winding down, but you know, I think Video games were seminal. But I don't know that I ever thought growing up I'd be walking through a convention, a video game convention. Did you ever think that was gonna?

Omar Najam: 28:10

no, genuinely no. I mean, we had an anime convention in downtown San Jose. Yeah, go to that. I used to go to comic book conventions all the time. Yeah, but like this is like, can you hear that? There's an arena over there, there's an arena where people are playing? Yeah, and. I never knew that, like in all my like in college, we just played Smash non-stop. And then we're now here and there's an entire convention center filled with the people playing games.

Sandeep Parikh: 28:30

I know I have so much that I owe to video games. It basically jumps out of my career. You know the Guild, the Legend of Neon. Yes, yes, yes Video game based shows and, yeah, I'm so thankful, you know, in a way, that people's love for video games extended into me being able to make shows about them.

Omar Najam: 28:47

I mean it's crazy and it's look at how many different as we're walking around in the background, how many different games there are, how many different types of playing there are, how many folks are playing with complete strangers getting along understanding a similar vocabulary and this has become a language.

Sandeep Parikh: 29:01

It's so cool. I love. I just love the, that sort of like, the vibe of like I want to experiment, I want to try something new. Yeah, if that's a thing for you, I gotta make it out to one of these conventions. I mean, it's really cool. If you've ever been at, you know, an NES, not like I was growing up or you know you're like this is the thing about, about being my age.

Sandeep Parikh: 29:20

I think, is that we had sort of the feeling of like oh, you're going to grow out of playing video games, right, and that's like a kid's thing to do, yeah. And you're going to stop at a certain point.

KP Upadhyayula (KPStudios11): 29:29

Yeah.

Sandeep Parikh: 29:30

I think a lot of folks in my gen are like oh yeah, they did that, they grew out of it and feel like they couldn't come back to it.

Omar Najam: 29:40

But I hope I mean you're one of those people.

Sandeep Parikh: 29:42

come out to one of these conventions and find your love for video games again. This is absolutely insane. It's rad Like look at this. What Look?

Xander @ Fantasy Flight Games: 29:50

at that. Look at this.

Sandeep Parikh: 29:54

For those of you unfamiliar with experiencing esports right, this is a giant throng of people with commentators watching, professionals, professional video game players, go at it and kick each other's ass, watching it like it's a prize fight, taking side bets People taking side bets right now.

Omar Najam: 30:17

If they're not, we should probably start running that hustle we're going to do some prop bets.

Sandeep Parikh: 30:20

Watch, you hear it. When this goes to a KO, this is going to go crazy. We're down to seven seconds. We're down. Do some prop bets.

Omar Najam: 30:24

Watch you hear it. When this goes to a KO, this is gonna go crazy. We're down to seven seconds. We're down to six seconds. Oh my, oh, oh.

Sandeep Parikh: 30:32

What, what Incredible. I don't know if it was an upset or not, but it was very exciting. That was an upset.

Omar Najam: 30:37

That was an upset, I lost 50.

Sandeep Parikh: 30:45

Pax East is now closed. They just announced it. Oh boy, we did it. We closed this place. Down me and you, dude. Yep. Opening the closed? Yeah, definitely.

Omar Najam: 31:16

Oh, what a good time we closed it out we closed it out.

Sandeep Parikh: 31:20

Yeah, you know what I enjoyed? I enjoyed that little. I don't think we caught that moment on film, unfortunately, because I didn't know they were going to do it, but they sort of just announced, right, like that's it, everybody, that's the end of PAX East, and then, like everybody who was there kind of applauded and applauded. It was kind of a cool moment, like we all did it, we did it, it was we talk about it when we're hanging out with KP, but it was our first PAX Easts.

Omar Najam: 31:47

It was my first.

Sandeep Parikh: 31:48

Yeah, that's right, it was our first PAX. I've been to PAXs, but that was our first PAX East and it did have like a different vibe. It had an East Coast vibe, it had a Dunkin's vibe.

Omar Najam: 31:56

Yeah. You know A fucking.

Sandeep Parikh: 32:03

Dunkin' Donuts munchkin. Yeah, my greatest shame is my love of munchkins over glove gentlemen.

Travis @ Dispel Dice: 32:07

I'm sorry everyone.

Sandeep Parikh: 32:09

My ancestors. I'm sorry.

Omar Najam: 32:11

But we had such a good time and it truly was. It feels different. It's a convention that feels different and when, like you said, when they closed it out and they said lights off, it was just so much applause and cheering and everyone's like we'll see you next year and it's just a great energy.

Sandeep Parikh: 32:27

Like I'm not like now I'm racking my brain because I've been to so many conventions. I'm like do they do this at other conventions or is that just specific to PAX East? Because I guess maybe I don't know that I've ever closed a convention out like that before.

Omar Najam: 32:45

Or maybe that's just like a PAX thing thing, I don't know. It just felt cool, it felt it was all vibes. It was usually. For me it's like we're all racing around buying like dice with like little ducks and stuff in them and they're just like you have to leave, and then they get like like a sprit water spritzers and they're just going around just like just yeah chasing us out like rats the rats that we are right and that exactly, they've got like a folded.

Sandeep Parikh: 32:59

What do you call it?

Omar Najam: 33:00

like newspapers, yeah get out of here, you animal, go home go get out thanks for joining us for it.

Sandeep Parikh: 33:09

As always. If you are enjoying our show, we would love for you to support us, like we have so many supporters, you know. So jump onto that bandwagon if you would. It really helps us out over at patreon. That's patreoncom. Slash f and funny. E f, f, I and funny. You can jump on at any tier. There's all sorts of slash effin' funny, e-f-f-i-n funny. You can jump on at any tier. There's all sorts of fun things. I guess we should just quickly shout out the people because we should do that. Yeah, that would be, great, that's our thing.

Sandeep Parikh: 33:33

So I'm just going to rip it. I'm going to rip it as an announcement over the speakers of PAX East. All right, everybody, put your hands together for Joshua Ryan, tommy M, carlo, benjamin Lowe, brenda Hollinger, michael Logg, raylan Fox, celine B, nervous Rex, sarah H, dodeka, cotuplet, varun, moldy Vort, philip Dyson, kathleen Schlegel, ducati, reverend Coutinho, brandon Pace. Brandon Pace, your car is double parked. Monroe Maxwell, jeremy Schwartz, han Solso, 8bitd. Why is she still on? Is she still on here? Okay, chris Sims, dan Wally, christina Romero, zach Danny's Corner, fiche Legion247, jeremy O'Brien, astra and Brendan Bradley. And, of course, I will never close down for the gods. Those are the god tier level people. James Gaffney, scribbles and Flapjacks, vaden and Death. Queen Vex, you guys all rule.

Omar Najam: 34:21

Amazing. Some fireworks at the end there too, if you listen very carefully, that was pretty exciting.

Sandeep Parikh: 34:26

The show has been produced by Anand Shah and Caitlin Mahoney. The show's technical director and sound designer is Delvin Neville. Now I'm in my head. The show's executive producers are I know how to say this Sandeep Parikh and Anand Shah. Music by Harshal Sasodia, jasper Singh and Malik Saveri. This has been an FNFunny production Awesome.

Critical Bard (aka Omega Jones): 34:47

Thanks so much everyone.