Watch It Played

Watch It Played

Presentation
Hosted by	Rodney Smith
Genre	Gaming
Created by	Rodney Smith
Language	English
Production
Composed by	Chaz Charlton
Motion graphics	Diego Melo
Publication
Debut	September 1, 2011 (2011 -09-01)
Provider	YouTube
Website	www.watch-it-played.com

Watch It Played is a board and card game-related video series created and hosted by Rodney Smith. Originally intended to be used as a resource in a play-by-forum game of Mansions of Madness, the videos received significant views as well as positive feedback. This encouraged the creation of a channel dedicated to teaching and showing the games played.^[1]

In each season, Rodney, usually accompanied by his son Luke and his daughter Andrea, will do a full play-through of a selected board game. Instead of reviewing, the show focuses on how the game works, thus allowing viewers to understand it in a practical level, helping them decide for themselves whether or not it would appeal to them. Another key aspect of the show revolves around the interaction with the viewers, usually allowing them to participate in the game by having them submit different choices at the end of each video.^[2]

Seasons and games

The show's first episode was uploaded on September 1, 2011. Since then several more episodes have been uploaded, usually with two or more episodes uploaded per week.

Season	Game
0*	Mansions of Madness ^[3]
1	Wrath of Ashardalon ^[4]
2	Lord of the Rings: The Card Game ^[5]
3	Small World ^[6]
4	Dungeon Run ^[7]
5	Seven Wonders ^[8]
6	Flash Duel ^[9]
7	Summoner Wars ^[10]
8	What's My Word ^[11]
9	Super Dungeon Explore ^[12]
10	Space Hulk ^[13]
11	Jaipur ^[14]
12	Timeline: Inventions ^[15]
13	Wits & Wagers ^[16]
14	Puzzle Strike ^[17]
15	Mice and Mystics ^[18]
16	Legendary ^[19]
17	City of Remnants ^[20]
18	Zombicide ^[21]
19	Tokaido ^[22]
20	Dust Warfare ^[23]
21	Eminent Domain ^[24]
22	Belfort ^[25]
23	The New Science ^[26]
24	Descent: Journeys in the dark ^[27]
25	The Duke ^[28]
26	Dungeon Roll ^[29]
27	Bioshock Infinite: The Siege Of Columbia ^[30]
28	Goblins drool, Fairies rule ^[31]
29	Takenoko ^[32]
30	Tomorrow ^[33]
31	Kerflip! ^[34]
32	Kemet ^[35]
33	Tsuro ^[36]
34	Keyflower ^[37]
35	Roll For It! ^[38]
36	Cutthroat Caverns ^[39]
37	Relic Expedition ^[40]
38	Theseus: The Dark Orbit ^[41]
39	Quantum ^[42]

Season	Game
40	Rampage ^[43]
41	BattleCON: Devastation of Indines ^[44]
42	Marvel Dice Masters: X-Men vs Avengers ^[45]
43	Tsuro of the Seas ^[46]
44	Veterans of the Seas ^[47]
45	Legacy ^[48]
46	Eggs and Empires ^[49]
47	Boss Monster ^[50]
48	Dead of Winter ^[51]
49	Ugh! ^[52]
50	Machi Koro ^[53]
51	Video Game High School ^[54]
52	Lagoon: Land of Druids ^[55]
53	Arcadia Quest ^[56]
54	Viticulture ^[57]
55	Scoville ^[58]
56	Pay Dirt ^[59]
57	Five Tribes ^[60]
58	Samurai Spirit ^[61]
59	Sheriff of Nottingham ^[62]
60	Golem Arcana ^[63]
61	Diamonsters ^[64]
62	Tuscany ^[65]
63	Specter Ops ^[66]
64	Yomi ^[67]
65	Aquasphere ^[68]
66	XCOM ^[69]
67	Argent: The Consortium ^[70]
68	Tiny Epic Defenders ^[71]
69	Bottom of the 9th ^[72]
70	Harbour ^[73]
71	Gravwell ^[74]
72	Elysium ^[75]
73	Splendor ^[76]
74	Evolution ^[77]

*Though technically not part of the series, Mansions of Madness was the first game explained and played by Rodney in this public manner.

Milestones

Date	Event
07/14/2011	First rules overview ^[78]
07/16/2011	Andrea's first appearance on the show ^[79]
08/08/2011	First international guest (Haru) ^[80]
08/10/2011	Luke's first appearance on the show ^[81]
08/19/2011	Watch It Played is announced ^[82]
09/01/2011	First episode of Watch It Played ^[83]
09/10/2011	First sponsored ad ^[84]
09/14/2011	Dice cam ^[85]
11/18/2011	Movember! Rodney sports a 'stache ^[86]
11/29/2011	The dice box makes its first appearance ^[87]
03/01/2012	Christy (Rodney's wife) appears on the show ^[88]
04/05/2012	Andrea & Luke receive map of supporter locations ^[89]
04/11/2012	Change from purple to black table cover ^[90]
04/23/2012	Andrea receives the "Lucky Gloves" ^[91]
07/09/2012	Watch It Played T-Shirt arrives ^[92]
07/26/2012	Behind the Scenes ^[93]
07/30/2012	Watch It Played Dice received from Chaz ^[94]
07/31/2012	It's the Andrea show! Andrea hosts her own show ^[95]
08/05/2012	2nd Fundraiser ^[96]
09/03/2012	Rodney is at a loss for words ^[97]
09/11/2012	Watch It Played gets a BGG micro badge ^[98]
09/26/2012	Video created for PlaidHatGames ^[99]
12/24/2012	Background remodeling and Rodney's parents make a guest appearance ^[100]
01/06/2013	Geek of the Week ^[101]
01/13/2013	Rodney teaches Costanza (a game he made) ^[102]
01/13/2013	Papa J! ^[103]
03/13/2013	The Smiths receive custom Tokaido shirts & Marvel Zombicide characters ^[104]
02/22/2013	First miniatures game instructional videos, Debut of the Watch It Played polo shirt^[105]
04/08/2013	Luke directs an episode ^[106]
04/14/2013	Skype gaming with Jamie from The Secret Cabal Gaming Podcast ^[107]
04/15/2013	Watched It Played goes bilingual (viewer offers to provide German translations), Index is added to videos, More outfits than a music video ^[108]
09/15/2013	New backdrop with "the shelf" ^[109]
10/14/2013	Logo figures cut-outs make their first appearance ^[110]
09/29/2013	Guest appearance by Rodney's niece and her husband (Amy & Jeremy) ^[111]
12/19/2013	Watch It Played dice tower is received ^[112]
01/07/2014	Table Talk intro music changed to "Mining by Moonlight" by Kevin MacLeod ^[113]
03/23/2014	Watch It Played teaches its first expansion ^[114]
06/01/2014	Change from black to red table cover ^[115]
03/13/2015	Rodney (as seen through a fish eye) debuts portable camera, View of Rodney's basement studio ^[116]

Table Talk

On April 30, 2013, a new segment was added to the show called Table Talk. In the first video, Rodney poses a question to the viewers about a gaming-related topic. The second video (initially called Table Talk: Talk Back and later shortened to Table Talk Back) consists of responses from the viewers, including written responses and video submissions.

Episode	Topic	Table Talk Back
01	How Do You Prefer To Learn Games? ^[117]	Talk Back E01 ^[118]
02	How Do You Store Your Game Pieces? ^[119]	Talk Back E02 ^[120]
03	More Games Or More Often? ^[121]	Talk Back E03 ^[122]
04	The Sloooow Player ^[123]	Talk Back E04 ^[124]
05	Purposely Playing Poorly ^[125]	Talk Back E05 ^[126]
06	Buying Toys For Your Toys ^[127]	Talk Back E06 ^[128]
07	What Kickstarts YOU? ^[129]	Talk Back E07 ^[130]
08	98.7% Jerk Free ^[131]	Talk Back E08 ^[132]
09	Can A Theme Go Too Far? ^[133]	Talk Back E09 ^[134]
10	Don't Be So Touchy! ^[135]	Talk Back E10 ^[136]
11	This Old House... Rule! ^[137]	Talk Back E11 ^[138]
12	You've Got To Be Kidding Me! ^[139]	Talk Back E12 ^[140]
13	How Do We e-Value-ate Games? ^[141]	Talk Back E13 ^[142]
14	I Just Can't Let You Go! ^[143]	Talk Back E14 ^[144]
15	Christmas 2013 Edition ^[145]	Talk Back E15 ^[146]
16	2014 Gaming Resolutions ^[147]	Talk Back E16 ^[148]
17	What A Loser ^[149]	Talk Back E17 ^[150]
18	Questions ^[151]	Talk Back E18 ^[152]
19	Conventioneering! ^[153]	Talk Back E19 ^[154]
20	Running Your Own Mini-Con ^[155]	Talk Back E20 ^[156]
21	The Cost Of Free ^[157]	Talk Back E21 ^[158]
22	What Do You Want To Play? ^[159]	Talk Back E22 ^[160]
23	This Was A Mistake ^[161]	Talk Back E23 ^[162]
24	The Evolving Gamer ^[163]	Talk Back E24 ^[164]
25	Home Team or Away? ^[165]	Talk Back E25 ^[166]
26	The Precious ^[167]	Talk Back E26 ^[168]
27	Play It Again ^[169]	Talk Back E27 ^[170]
28	Splitting The Group ^[171]	Talk Back E28 ^[172]
29	Topicopia ^[173]	Talk Back E29 ^[174]
30	Gaming Resolutions 2015 ^[175]	Talk Back E30 ^[176]
31	How We Roll! ^[177]	Talk Back E31 ^[178]
32	A Phone In My Game?! ^[179]	Talk Back E32 ^[180]
33	Gaming Taboos ^[181]	Talk Back E33 ^[182]
34	GAMA Edition ^[183]	Talk Back E34 ^[184]
35	Quirks ^[185]	None

Fundraiser

On January 5, 2012, a fundraiser campaign for the series was announced. Its main goal was to collect enough money to allow Rodney full dedication to the show for at least a quarter year. The $5000 goal was achieved and surpassed on March 3, 2012.^[186] The total amount raised was over $8000.^[187]

Plaid Hat Games partnership

On March 24, 2012, it was announced that the show would partner with Plaid Hat Games (owners of both Dungeon Run and Summoner Wars, games played in the series), in order to develop a video rundown of Summoner Wars rules, trying to facilitate and complement the sometimes tedious process of learning a new game.^[188]^[189]

How games are chosen

A full explanation is provided in the video from April 15, 2013.

Guest appearances

Rodney has been featured on other media sites around the web, you can find his guest appearances below.

Date	Location
04/30/2014	The Geek Allstars
04/30/2014	Happy Mitten Games
01/09/2015	Creators Cast
02/18/2015	The Secret Cabal

Video Journals

Rodney goes mobile by using a portable camera to record a series of video journals at special events.

Date	Location
03/16/2015	GAMA 2015 ^[190]