Interview with Etsy Shop Owner and Game Enthusiast Larry Saunders
In this episode, I am joined by Larry Saunders. I came across Larry when searching for Christmas presents for my coworkers. He has an Etsy shop where he makes various game related stickers. I reached out to him, and he told me that board games had helped him through a tough part of his life. Well, after almost two months of trying to get a night free together, Larry and I finally got to have our conversation. He has a great, but sad, story to tell. Thanks for listening.
"BOARD GAMES BUILD BRIDGES"
Larry Lee Saunders
Shop Keep
I'm a long-time gamer. I played tabletop games and role-playing games in high school where I mostly played games like Carrier Strike and D&D. In collage I was introduced to Axis & Allies, Shogun and Star Fleet Battles, much to the detriment of my GPA.
Later I discovered Talisman, Catan ... the list just goes on and on.
Board games and the board game community really helped me get through the toughest season of my life. My first wife of almost 25 died of colon cancer after a 3-year battle. Without the BBG community, I may not have survived that.
But I came out the other side broken and ran away to the farthest place I could find that still spoke English. So, I wound up in the Philippines.
Fast forward a few years and I am now remarried to beautiful young little Filipina and we are the proud parents of a 5-year-old and a 2-year-old.
When we were in the Philippines, I missed gaming and, in an attempt to reconnect with the community, I started the Etsy shop Total Game Crafting. Being in the Philippines, I was limited to Print-on-Demand items. My bestselling item at the time was an infant onesie with a blue or pink meeple on it that said Daddy's/Mommy's favorite little meeple.
When we as a family immigrated to the US, I started to expand the offerings in our shop with physical items. Since my graphics skills are only so-so so, I bought a Silhouette Cameo cutting machine and I focused on d20 & meeple stickers.
With my wife’s encouragement I later bought a 3d printer and started making bo… Read More
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