1 00:00:15,356 --> 00:00:15,796 Speaker 1: Bushkin. 2 00:00:21,796 --> 00:00:26,036 Speaker 2: In just a few days, it will be Christmas, and 3 00:00:26,076 --> 00:00:28,836 Speaker 2: in houses around the world there will be thousands upon 4 00:00:28,916 --> 00:00:33,596 Speaker 2: thousands of long squat boxes covered in wrapping paper. Inside 5 00:00:33,836 --> 00:00:38,156 Speaker 2: will be little plastic figurines, trains, top hats, empty octagons. 6 00:00:38,476 --> 00:00:41,196 Speaker 2: There will be cards, spinners, tokens, potty pencils, and dice. 7 00:00:41,556 --> 00:00:45,956 Speaker 2: They will play money. There will be scorecards. For this, 8 00:00:46,156 --> 00:00:51,316 Speaker 2: my friends, is the season of the board game. Board 9 00:00:51,316 --> 00:00:54,556 Speaker 2: games have always fascinated me. I used to play double 10 00:00:54,556 --> 00:00:57,356 Speaker 2: board risk as a kid with ten players and the 11 00:00:57,396 --> 00:01:02,956 Speaker 2: games would take minimum twelve hours. Once one took sixteen hours. 12 00:01:03,196 --> 00:01:05,916 Speaker 2: My friend Terry and I developed our own brand of Monopoly, 13 00:01:06,196 --> 00:01:10,196 Speaker 2: where we fixed all the problems with the Parker Brothers version, 14 00:01:10,596 --> 00:01:16,396 Speaker 2: including introducing the use of derivatives. The philosopher Ctun says 15 00:01:16,396 --> 00:01:19,196 Speaker 2: that games are an art form that work in the 16 00:01:19,236 --> 00:01:22,996 Speaker 2: medium of agency. Game shape what you want and how 17 00:01:23,036 --> 00:01:25,596 Speaker 2: you can get it, so every game is a pocket 18 00:01:25,796 --> 00:01:29,156 Speaker 2: philosophy of life, like the story of the woman who 19 00:01:29,156 --> 00:01:32,876 Speaker 2: invented Monopoly to promote a socialist idea about how we 20 00:01:32,916 --> 00:01:36,476 Speaker 2: should tax land, before the Parker Brothers turned it into 21 00:01:36,476 --> 00:01:38,276 Speaker 2: a game about how fun it is to own a 22 00:01:38,316 --> 00:01:42,156 Speaker 2: lot of land. Or my personal favorite, class Struggle, the 23 00:01:42,156 --> 00:01:46,276 Speaker 2: truly tedious board game about communism, invented by an NYU 24 00:01:46,356 --> 00:01:50,036 Speaker 2: professor and scholar of Karl Marx in the nineteen seventies. 25 00:01:50,596 --> 00:01:53,796 Speaker 2: You get the picture. Every game lets you try on 26 00:01:53,876 --> 00:01:56,996 Speaker 2: a way to think about the world. So today on 27 00:01:57,036 --> 00:01:59,516 Speaker 2: the show we have a story from producer Ben at 28 00:01:59,516 --> 00:02:02,716 Speaker 2: Alfhaffrey about a family who invented a board game not 29 00:02:02,956 --> 00:02:06,876 Speaker 2: just to impart some life lessons, but in fact to 30 00:02:06,956 --> 00:02:11,236 Speaker 2: save their own lives. It's a wild, part comedy, part tragedy, 31 00:02:11,796 --> 00:02:15,716 Speaker 2: and the love story perfect for the holidays. It begins 32 00:02:16,316 --> 00:02:19,316 Speaker 2: in the fall of nineteen sixty nine in an apartment 33 00:02:19,436 --> 00:02:23,796 Speaker 2: living room, started a semester at the University of Colorado. 34 00:02:24,516 --> 00:02:29,676 Speaker 1: Moving there. Yeah, it was two blocks off campus, a 35 00:02:29,836 --> 00:02:33,836 Speaker 1: little teeny apartment. We flipped coin, who gets the bedroom, 36 00:02:33,836 --> 00:02:37,036 Speaker 1: who sleeps in the living room? Oil, I slept in 37 00:02:37,076 --> 00:02:38,356 Speaker 1: the living room. 38 00:02:38,676 --> 00:02:41,796 Speaker 3: That's George Roorbacker, inventor of the farming game, but not 39 00:02:41,876 --> 00:02:45,756 Speaker 3: yet at this exact moment, He's creating something entirely different. 40 00:02:46,596 --> 00:02:48,916 Speaker 1: I was in the midst of making it a fringe 41 00:02:48,956 --> 00:02:54,756 Speaker 1: swede jacket. I had done some things for a guy 42 00:02:54,916 --> 00:02:57,316 Speaker 1: and he owed me some money, didn't have any money, 43 00:02:57,396 --> 00:03:01,036 Speaker 1: but he does have a couple of pieces of swede 44 00:03:01,116 --> 00:03:05,716 Speaker 1: that are, you know, right off the col kind of pieces. 45 00:03:06,396 --> 00:03:09,156 Speaker 3: I visited George and Colorado where he lives now, and 46 00:03:09,316 --> 00:03:10,396 Speaker 3: he got out the jacket. 47 00:03:10,596 --> 00:03:14,396 Speaker 1: Okay, the guy that I got the swayed from had 48 00:03:14,756 --> 00:03:18,556 Speaker 1: the most outrageous color of swede I'd ever seen or 49 00:03:18,676 --> 00:03:24,036 Speaker 1: have seen. Since this is like a lurid green, purple, 50 00:03:24,516 --> 00:03:27,796 Speaker 1: lime green, purple, and orange. I believe it was the 51 00:03:27,876 --> 00:03:30,156 Speaker 1: fringe zone, this arm that I was cutting. 52 00:03:30,716 --> 00:03:34,356 Speaker 3: There's your timestamp. Nineteen sixty nine, the war in Vietnam, 53 00:03:34,556 --> 00:03:38,236 Speaker 3: anti war protests on campus, Woodstock, George and the amazing 54 00:03:38,276 --> 00:03:41,716 Speaker 3: technical or swede jacket, which I should say is got 55 00:03:41,716 --> 00:03:42,436 Speaker 3: like a tuxedo. 56 00:03:42,836 --> 00:03:44,436 Speaker 1: It's a one of a kind. Let's just put it. 57 00:03:44,436 --> 00:03:45,316 Speaker 3: It's pretty awesome. 58 00:03:45,676 --> 00:03:50,876 Speaker 1: Oh and tails. 59 00:03:51,836 --> 00:03:54,156 Speaker 3: I'm telling you this not only because the jacket is 60 00:03:54,156 --> 00:03:57,076 Speaker 3: a wormhole to the nineteen sixties, but also because that 61 00:03:57,196 --> 00:04:00,476 Speaker 3: moment with George in his living room slash bedroom was 62 00:04:00,516 --> 00:04:03,436 Speaker 3: the moment his life changed. The sewing was hard work, 63 00:04:03,516 --> 00:04:06,196 Speaker 3: and he'd gotten hungry for a blt. Problem was he 64 00:04:06,236 --> 00:04:08,116 Speaker 3: had the bacon, but he didn't own a frying pan. 65 00:04:08,556 --> 00:04:10,196 Speaker 3: He was kind of plating this when all of a 66 00:04:10,236 --> 00:04:12,956 Speaker 3: sudden he looked out the window and saw a girl 67 00:04:12,996 --> 00:04:14,196 Speaker 3: walking by on the balcony. 68 00:04:15,516 --> 00:04:16,036 Speaker 1: Wow. 69 00:04:16,996 --> 00:04:20,476 Speaker 3: He thought she was gorgeous. He also thought she might 70 00:04:20,476 --> 00:04:21,236 Speaker 3: have a frying pan. 71 00:04:21,756 --> 00:04:25,156 Speaker 1: And I was making a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich 72 00:04:25,356 --> 00:04:28,436 Speaker 1: and with nothing to do. Well, this is prior to 73 00:04:28,476 --> 00:04:32,036 Speaker 1: the invention of mica waves, and the only way you 74 00:04:32,396 --> 00:04:34,876 Speaker 1: cook bacon is in a frying pan. And once you 75 00:04:35,076 --> 00:04:38,996 Speaker 1: get the taste of bacon in your head, it's. 76 00:04:38,436 --> 00:04:38,876 Speaker 3: Hard to get it. 77 00:04:39,036 --> 00:04:40,196 Speaker 1: It's hard to get it. 78 00:04:40,276 --> 00:04:43,796 Speaker 3: Yeah, George drops the Swede jacket and head's next door. 79 00:04:45,356 --> 00:04:51,756 Speaker 4: I was in the apartment on the phone when there 80 00:04:51,836 --> 00:04:52,756 Speaker 4: was a knock at the door. 81 00:04:53,436 --> 00:04:56,196 Speaker 3: That's Anne, the girl from the other apartment, also a 82 00:04:56,196 --> 00:04:59,316 Speaker 3: student at the University of Colorado. She answered the door 83 00:04:59,836 --> 00:05:00,716 Speaker 3: and he said. 84 00:05:00,636 --> 00:05:01,836 Speaker 4: Can I borrow a frying pan? 85 00:05:02,196 --> 00:05:03,196 Speaker 1: She's on the phone. 86 00:05:03,476 --> 00:05:07,676 Speaker 4: Yeah, sure, And I handed him the frying pan and 87 00:05:07,716 --> 00:05:09,316 Speaker 4: he said, I'll bring it back. 88 00:05:09,436 --> 00:05:12,076 Speaker 1: She gets back on the phone and closes the door, 89 00:05:12,116 --> 00:05:14,836 Speaker 1: and I just stand there, just stunned. 90 00:05:15,156 --> 00:05:17,636 Speaker 4: I think I want to get to know that guy. 91 00:05:18,036 --> 00:05:25,076 Speaker 1: Well, first off, she's beautiful, I mean beautiful, and she 92 00:05:25,156 --> 00:05:28,716 Speaker 1: had this long honey brown hair. 93 00:05:29,036 --> 00:05:31,556 Speaker 4: Had she had long hair down to his shoulders, had 94 00:05:31,876 --> 00:05:32,636 Speaker 4: a big beard. 95 00:05:32,956 --> 00:05:36,396 Speaker 1: Basically the outside world said, there's a hippie. 96 00:05:36,516 --> 00:05:40,076 Speaker 4: And he had on overalls and he drove a sort 97 00:05:40,116 --> 00:05:42,276 Speaker 4: of old purple pickup. 98 00:05:41,916 --> 00:05:46,636 Speaker 1: Truck and not not only beautiful face, but one of 99 00:05:46,676 --> 00:05:51,956 Speaker 1: these people. After talking to him, where you realize the 100 00:05:52,076 --> 00:05:58,316 Speaker 1: heart inside is every bit or more beautiful than the outside. 101 00:05:58,476 --> 00:06:01,196 Speaker 1: I mean you could just or I could just feel 102 00:06:01,196 --> 00:06:02,116 Speaker 1: it immediately. 103 00:06:02,596 --> 00:06:04,196 Speaker 4: And the joke is I always say I had to 104 00:06:04,236 --> 00:06:05,956 Speaker 4: marry him to get my friend Pam back. 105 00:06:07,356 --> 00:06:11,876 Speaker 3: And Roerbucker, creator of the Farming game. First thing George 106 00:06:11,876 --> 00:06:14,956 Speaker 3: told me the story of that game is a love story. 107 00:06:15,756 --> 00:06:18,156 Speaker 3: Ann went George a frying pan, he made his blt, 108 00:06:18,676 --> 00:06:20,996 Speaker 3: and then later that night he went back over to 109 00:06:20,996 --> 00:06:21,716 Speaker 3: Anne's apartment. 110 00:06:22,596 --> 00:06:28,236 Speaker 4: So George came over and it was my roommate and 111 00:06:28,276 --> 00:06:32,596 Speaker 4: I and George proceeded to get really high and tell 112 00:06:32,676 --> 00:06:35,076 Speaker 4: the entire movie of King Kong. 113 00:06:35,076 --> 00:06:37,436 Speaker 1: How it was made, and you know, just all of 114 00:06:37,476 --> 00:06:41,476 Speaker 1: the nuances of where it fit in society. 115 00:06:41,956 --> 00:06:44,996 Speaker 4: And I was like, oh my god, this guy is nuts. 116 00:06:46,476 --> 00:06:48,716 Speaker 4: I mean he literally told the entire movie. If you 117 00:06:48,756 --> 00:06:50,316 Speaker 4: ask him a story, he has to go back to 118 00:06:50,356 --> 00:06:53,316 Speaker 4: the very beginning, until every detail from the very beginning. 119 00:06:53,796 --> 00:06:57,396 Speaker 1: Well, you know, it's a strange it's a strange topic 120 00:06:57,476 --> 00:07:00,756 Speaker 1: to spend the evening talking about with the woman that 121 00:07:00,796 --> 00:07:03,636 Speaker 1: you're gonna ask to marry you. What a week and 122 00:07:03,676 --> 00:07:08,716 Speaker 1: a half, but it must have worked. 123 00:07:10,156 --> 00:07:13,676 Speaker 3: That's Wednesday. Thursday, George walks in to class and writes 124 00:07:13,676 --> 00:07:15,716 Speaker 3: her a poem. Friday, they get on a plane to 125 00:07:15,756 --> 00:07:18,876 Speaker 3: Seattle to meet Anne's parents. Saturday, George gets in a 126 00:07:18,876 --> 00:07:22,356 Speaker 3: long argument with her dad, a businessman and veteran, about Vietnam. 127 00:07:22,876 --> 00:07:25,596 Speaker 3: A week later, George and Ann decide to get engaged. 128 00:07:26,116 --> 00:07:28,436 Speaker 1: This is where I want to be, this is who 129 00:07:28,476 --> 00:07:31,476 Speaker 1: I want to be with. It was instantaneous. 130 00:07:31,876 --> 00:07:35,076 Speaker 4: It was just a knowing that he's my partner, he 131 00:07:35,116 --> 00:07:38,476 Speaker 4: should be my partner, and we should do life together. 132 00:07:39,676 --> 00:07:42,116 Speaker 3: Just before Christmas, the square that kicks off play on 133 00:07:42,156 --> 00:07:45,036 Speaker 3: the game board. They tell Anne's parents they're getting married. 134 00:07:45,756 --> 00:07:50,196 Speaker 4: They were not overly excited about George. 135 00:07:50,236 --> 00:07:52,236 Speaker 1: Her parents were horrified. 136 00:07:52,436 --> 00:07:55,196 Speaker 3: But George and Ann won't change their minds. Sometimes you 137 00:07:55,356 --> 00:07:58,956 Speaker 3: just know. The weeks passed by in a haze. Lucky Roles, 138 00:07:58,996 --> 00:08:03,476 Speaker 3: only sixes classes missed, exams, taken papers, and poems written. 139 00:08:03,596 --> 00:08:06,756 Speaker 3: Ringing round the board till it's June, George graduates and 140 00:08:06,796 --> 00:08:10,556 Speaker 3: he and Anne get married. It's theme of nineteen seventy. 141 00:08:12,916 --> 00:08:15,156 Speaker 3: They decided to take a trip around the country just 142 00:08:15,156 --> 00:08:17,676 Speaker 3: to see where and who they wanted to be. George 143 00:08:17,716 --> 00:08:20,196 Speaker 3: comes from a family of doctors and academics and always 144 00:08:20,196 --> 00:08:23,876 Speaker 3: figured he'd be a professor, but plans change, and had 145 00:08:23,916 --> 00:08:25,756 Speaker 3: been working as a cleaner, and they had saved up 146 00:08:25,796 --> 00:08:29,476 Speaker 3: one thousand dollars. They loaded up George's purple Dodge pickup 147 00:08:29,476 --> 00:08:33,236 Speaker 3: truck and set off. They drove through thirty seven states 148 00:08:33,316 --> 00:08:36,196 Speaker 3: over the course of ten months. As they wandered, they 149 00:08:36,196 --> 00:08:39,156 Speaker 3: got fascinated by a new movement of going back to 150 00:08:39,196 --> 00:08:39,636 Speaker 3: the land. 151 00:08:40,636 --> 00:08:45,356 Speaker 1: We had gotten interested in the dream to the degree 152 00:08:45,396 --> 00:08:49,396 Speaker 1: that we decided, well, neither one of us has ever 153 00:08:49,556 --> 00:08:53,916 Speaker 1: lived in the country, maybe we want to do that. 154 00:08:55,276 --> 00:08:58,556 Speaker 3: In the nineteen seventies, the environmental movement was coming of age. 155 00:08:59,116 --> 00:09:02,636 Speaker 3: The First Earth Day, the founding of the EPA, the 156 00:09:02,676 --> 00:09:06,076 Speaker 3: most substantial legislation to protect our natural environment, came all 157 00:09:06,076 --> 00:09:08,876 Speaker 3: in a rush. People weren't just worried about what we 158 00:09:09,116 --> 00:09:11,796 Speaker 3: put into our rivers in air, though they were worried 159 00:09:11,956 --> 00:09:13,636 Speaker 3: about what we put into our bodies. 160 00:09:14,276 --> 00:09:17,276 Speaker 5: I think that a very great, great deal of sickness 161 00:09:17,436 --> 00:09:19,836 Speaker 5: is because of the refined foods. 162 00:09:19,836 --> 00:09:21,036 Speaker 1: I think we're literally at the. 163 00:09:20,996 --> 00:09:23,836 Speaker 5: Mercy of the people who take all the minerals and 164 00:09:23,876 --> 00:09:25,676 Speaker 5: vittems out of the sugar, out of the flower. 165 00:09:26,436 --> 00:09:29,436 Speaker 3: The organic food movement took off. Between that and the 166 00:09:29,436 --> 00:09:32,396 Speaker 3: mounting feeling that we were killing the earth, a lot 167 00:09:32,436 --> 00:09:36,196 Speaker 3: of people, especially young white college students, started looking for 168 00:09:36,276 --> 00:09:38,316 Speaker 3: a way to reconnect in. 169 00:09:38,316 --> 00:09:42,356 Speaker 4: Our uncertain nuclear future. The homesteading movement is once again 170 00:09:42,436 --> 00:09:43,516 Speaker 4: gaining ground. 171 00:09:44,556 --> 00:09:47,476 Speaker 3: They wanted to be self sufficient. They read magazines like 172 00:09:47,556 --> 00:09:50,796 Speaker 3: Mother Earth News and Whole Earth catalog books like Buckminster 173 00:09:50,836 --> 00:09:54,236 Speaker 3: Fuller's Operating Manual for Spaceship Earth and Adele Davis's Let's 174 00:09:54,236 --> 00:09:57,276 Speaker 3: Get Well. They ate vegetables raw from their gardens and 175 00:09:57,316 --> 00:10:00,756 Speaker 3: cook Gypsy soup from the Moosewood Cookbook. They sang songs 176 00:10:00,916 --> 00:10:03,476 Speaker 3: like Joni Mitchell's Woodstock, I'm going. 177 00:10:03,396 --> 00:10:08,076 Speaker 6: To camboat on the line, I'm gonna try and get me. 178 00:10:13,676 --> 00:10:16,156 Speaker 3: Americans have been going back to the land since the 179 00:10:16,236 --> 00:10:20,356 Speaker 3: nineteenth century, but those early movements were typically a response 180 00:10:20,396 --> 00:10:24,716 Speaker 3: to economic crises. The settlers were romantic, but also practical 181 00:10:25,276 --> 00:10:28,516 Speaker 3: living off the land, subsistence farming. That was one way 182 00:10:28,516 --> 00:10:31,836 Speaker 3: to be sure you wouldn't starve when the next panic came. Also, 183 00:10:31,996 --> 00:10:34,316 Speaker 3: it made for a lot of good books, movies, and 184 00:10:34,476 --> 00:10:37,756 Speaker 3: of course old timey radio shows like The Grand Bees, 185 00:10:37,836 --> 00:10:38,876 Speaker 3: Green Acres. 186 00:10:38,876 --> 00:10:42,156 Speaker 7: Martha Martha. Let's face it, the price of food wouldn't 187 00:10:42,196 --> 00:10:44,076 Speaker 7: be any problem to us if we'd done what I 188 00:10:44,116 --> 00:10:46,396 Speaker 7: wanted to do five years ago and bought a farm. 189 00:10:47,116 --> 00:10:49,996 Speaker 3: But the nineteen seventies back to the Land movement was different. 190 00:10:50,556 --> 00:10:52,876 Speaker 3: It wasn't a response to an economic crisis like the 191 00:10:52,876 --> 00:10:56,276 Speaker 3: Great Depression. It was the expression of an ideal. The 192 00:10:56,316 --> 00:10:58,956 Speaker 3: back to the landers wanted to make things and live 193 00:10:59,036 --> 00:11:02,796 Speaker 3: in sustainable communities. Some people just wanted to live in nature. 194 00:11:02,916 --> 00:11:05,916 Speaker 3: But George and Anne wanted to farm, and all of 195 00:11:05,916 --> 00:11:10,356 Speaker 3: a sudden an opportunity fell into their laps. A friend 196 00:11:10,396 --> 00:11:13,636 Speaker 3: of Anne's parents bought a duck hunting club in Washington State. 197 00:11:14,116 --> 00:11:16,836 Speaker 3: They needed a caretaker, the club, not the ducks. 198 00:11:17,196 --> 00:11:20,236 Speaker 4: Basically, it was four rooms, a bathroom, a bedroom, a 199 00:11:20,236 --> 00:11:22,996 Speaker 4: living room in the kitchen opened the door the place. 200 00:11:23,356 --> 00:11:27,556 Speaker 4: It was full of dead bugs and mosquitoes. 201 00:11:27,916 --> 00:11:30,716 Speaker 1: The house and the duck club was a shithole. 202 00:11:30,316 --> 00:11:32,356 Speaker 4: And it was hot, and it was miserable. 203 00:11:32,676 --> 00:11:35,476 Speaker 1: There's really no other way to describe it. 204 00:11:36,356 --> 00:11:37,436 Speaker 4: What the hell, We'll take it. 205 00:11:37,876 --> 00:11:40,116 Speaker 3: The club was in a town called Toppin'ish in the 206 00:11:40,156 --> 00:11:43,476 Speaker 3: Yakima Valley. The Yakima is some of the most fertile 207 00:11:43,516 --> 00:11:51,356 Speaker 3: farmland in the United States. It can grow asparagus, apples, hay, corn, wheat, barley, mint, grapes, peaches, pears, 208 00:11:51,436 --> 00:11:54,236 Speaker 3: and cherries. The kind of land it takes eons to 209 00:11:54,276 --> 00:11:57,196 Speaker 3: make warm by day and cool in the evening with 210 00:11:57,276 --> 00:12:01,636 Speaker 3: plentiful sunshine. An American Eden, George and Anne started a 211 00:12:01,636 --> 00:12:04,076 Speaker 3: garden off the shack near the creek and got jobs 212 00:12:04,076 --> 00:12:06,676 Speaker 3: in town. George is a teacher and is a bank 213 00:12:06,716 --> 00:12:09,956 Speaker 3: teller on the weekends. George helped out to cattle ranch 214 00:12:10,076 --> 00:12:13,196 Speaker 3: and learned about taking care of livestock and riding horses. 215 00:12:13,636 --> 00:12:17,676 Speaker 1: There was something that struck a cord inside me that said, 216 00:12:17,916 --> 00:12:21,516 Speaker 1: this makes sense. Well, it's like you eat something new 217 00:12:21,556 --> 00:12:25,156 Speaker 1: and it just oh, that was really good. 218 00:12:25,876 --> 00:12:27,876 Speaker 3: He left his teaching job to work more with the 219 00:12:27,916 --> 00:12:30,556 Speaker 3: farmers in the valley, learning all he could about farming, 220 00:12:31,316 --> 00:12:33,916 Speaker 3: and stayed on at the bank. They got cattle and 221 00:12:34,076 --> 00:12:35,396 Speaker 3: ate the food they grew from their garden. 222 00:12:36,836 --> 00:12:39,956 Speaker 1: We not only like it, but we're doing well at it. 223 00:12:40,596 --> 00:12:42,916 Speaker 1: I think this is how we want to live. 224 00:12:43,276 --> 00:12:46,156 Speaker 4: I came home one day from work and George said, 225 00:12:46,916 --> 00:12:48,556 Speaker 4: I found a farm. 226 00:12:49,116 --> 00:12:51,676 Speaker 3: It was twenty seven acres in the Yakima Valley on 227 00:12:51,836 --> 00:12:54,596 Speaker 3: sale from an improbably named widow. 228 00:12:55,076 --> 00:12:56,836 Speaker 1: Her name was Leifa Fields. 229 00:12:58,596 --> 00:13:01,716 Speaker 3: They bought Leifa's place, and over the years their farm 230 00:13:01,756 --> 00:13:05,196 Speaker 3: did so well. They got bigger and expanded. They had 231 00:13:05,236 --> 00:13:08,516 Speaker 3: walnut trees and apricots in their garden, mint and alfalfa 232 00:13:08,556 --> 00:13:11,716 Speaker 3: in the field. Their conquered grapes went to Welch's Juice 233 00:13:11,876 --> 00:13:14,996 Speaker 3: and their sweet corn to del Monte's. They worked eighteen 234 00:13:15,036 --> 00:13:18,036 Speaker 3: hours a day, seven days a week at the farm, 235 00:13:18,076 --> 00:13:21,116 Speaker 3: at the bank, at the feed lot. They were rediscovering 236 00:13:21,116 --> 00:13:22,916 Speaker 3: a whole way of life that was new for them 237 00:13:22,996 --> 00:13:25,276 Speaker 3: but old hat to a lot of their neighbors, and 238 00:13:25,356 --> 00:13:28,116 Speaker 3: the community helped them find their way. They had their 239 00:13:28,116 --> 00:13:31,516 Speaker 3: first child, a baby boy named Blake, and they were happy. 240 00:13:32,076 --> 00:13:36,196 Speaker 1: And basically since we left the Duck Club, we had 241 00:13:36,236 --> 00:13:38,956 Speaker 1: been on a roll where things were getting better and 242 00:13:39,036 --> 00:13:40,196 Speaker 1: better and better. 243 00:13:41,676 --> 00:13:44,756 Speaker 3: The early nineteen seventies, those back to the Land years 244 00:13:45,076 --> 00:13:47,116 Speaker 3: were amazing for American farmers. 245 00:13:47,396 --> 00:13:51,196 Speaker 1: I didn't know any farmer who had gone broke. Gone 246 00:13:51,196 --> 00:13:53,236 Speaker 1: broke is back in the dust bowl era. 247 00:13:54,036 --> 00:13:57,516 Speaker 3: That stretch of farming prosperity. It happened under one man, 248 00:13:57,556 --> 00:14:03,956 Speaker 3: in particular, Nixon's Secretary of Agriculture, Earl Rusty Butts, Indiana born, 249 00:14:04,436 --> 00:14:07,676 Speaker 3: raised on a farm in the nineteen tens. Here's Butts. 250 00:14:08,156 --> 00:14:10,036 Speaker 1: I don't want to go back to good old days. 251 00:14:10,396 --> 00:14:11,756 Speaker 7: I only want to go forward. 252 00:14:12,356 --> 00:14:15,436 Speaker 3: Whether Butts was really taking the country forward or backwards 253 00:14:15,716 --> 00:14:17,836 Speaker 3: was something people would come to argue about. He was 254 00:14:17,876 --> 00:14:21,356 Speaker 3: a friend to big agribusiness, also to Republicans. He kept 255 00:14:21,396 --> 00:14:24,396 Speaker 3: a wood carving of two elephants having sex in his office. 256 00:14:24,556 --> 00:14:27,996 Speaker 3: Why because he said he was trying to make Republican 257 00:14:28,076 --> 00:14:31,196 Speaker 3: voters multiply, and he had a terrible sense of humor. 258 00:14:31,916 --> 00:14:35,356 Speaker 3: In the post war decades, increasing farm productivity had already 259 00:14:35,436 --> 00:14:38,596 Speaker 3: driven down the number of farms and increased their average size. 260 00:14:38,916 --> 00:14:41,956 Speaker 3: Now Butts wanted to take the trend even further. He 261 00:14:42,036 --> 00:14:46,036 Speaker 3: wanted to supersize American agriculture, and he got the chance 262 00:14:46,236 --> 00:14:49,076 Speaker 3: in the early nineteen seventies, just as George and Anne 263 00:14:49,116 --> 00:14:52,396 Speaker 3: were buying their first farms. The Soviet Union had just 264 00:14:52,436 --> 00:14:54,756 Speaker 3: gone through a patch of terrible weather. If they were 265 00:14:54,756 --> 00:14:57,636 Speaker 3: going to eat, they needed to import crops. The Soviets 266 00:14:57,716 --> 00:15:00,716 Speaker 3: bought up a quarter of the American harvest, billions of 267 00:15:00,756 --> 00:15:05,276 Speaker 3: dollars in US grain and soybeans. Wheat prices rose enormously, 268 00:15:05,796 --> 00:15:08,836 Speaker 3: farm income hidden all time high. Butts had found a 269 00:15:08,876 --> 00:15:12,156 Speaker 3: glos mobile market for American crops. He told farmers to 270 00:15:12,236 --> 00:15:15,876 Speaker 3: get big or get out. Agribusinesses thrilled to the spike 271 00:15:15,916 --> 00:15:19,956 Speaker 3: in demand for their new herbicides, machines and fertilizers. Bigger, 272 00:15:20,076 --> 00:15:22,556 Speaker 3: modernized farms meant bigger sales. 273 00:15:23,276 --> 00:15:26,356 Speaker 7: Our challenge is not to go back to more innffacient ways. 274 00:15:26,716 --> 00:15:29,716 Speaker 7: Our challenge is not to put more people back on 275 00:15:29,756 --> 00:15:32,276 Speaker 7: the land. Our challenge is to adapt to the change 276 00:15:32,316 --> 00:15:34,196 Speaker 7: in situation which we find ourselves. 277 00:15:38,836 --> 00:15:41,876 Speaker 3: Butts's vision was part of the reason farming knowledge began 278 00:15:41,956 --> 00:15:45,276 Speaker 3: to ebb away. The emphasis on efficiency of growing as 279 00:15:45,356 --> 00:15:48,236 Speaker 3: much as you possibly could came at the cost of older, 280 00:15:48,556 --> 00:15:53,396 Speaker 3: more sustainable practices like crop rotation and plant diversity. Instead 281 00:15:53,436 --> 00:15:56,636 Speaker 3: of small amounts of several crops, you got thousands of 282 00:15:56,676 --> 00:16:01,836 Speaker 3: acres of just soybeans. Another farm all corn. Butts's vision 283 00:16:02,116 --> 00:16:04,796 Speaker 3: was not exactly the back to the land dream, but 284 00:16:04,996 --> 00:16:07,876 Speaker 3: George and Ann still benefited. A lot of farmers did. 285 00:16:08,036 --> 00:16:12,396 Speaker 3: At least at first, the value of farmland skyrocketed. Farmers 286 00:16:12,396 --> 00:16:15,556 Speaker 3: were living well, The family farm was becoming more like 287 00:16:15,556 --> 00:16:18,716 Speaker 3: a factory, and the family farmer took out loan after 288 00:16:18,796 --> 00:16:22,476 Speaker 3: loan on easy credit to expand, which is why when 289 00:16:22,556 --> 00:16:26,836 Speaker 3: George saw a thousand acre ranch for sale, he thought, why. 290 00:16:26,636 --> 00:16:32,036 Speaker 1: Not fourteen miles out of town, four miles from the 291 00:16:32,076 --> 00:16:36,036 Speaker 1: next door in Ahror and you can see the Milky Way, 292 00:16:36,436 --> 00:16:39,756 Speaker 1: and it just felt just absolutely right. 293 00:16:39,836 --> 00:16:43,396 Speaker 4: And we said, this is where we want to raise 294 00:16:43,396 --> 00:16:43,916 Speaker 4: our kids. 295 00:16:44,796 --> 00:16:49,036 Speaker 3: The thousand acre ranch was surrounded by canyons ninety five 296 00:16:49,156 --> 00:16:52,116 Speaker 3: miles away from their old farm, across the Sadus Pass, 297 00:16:52,836 --> 00:16:55,716 Speaker 3: fringed by timber, off the Cascades Mountains, at the breaks 298 00:16:55,716 --> 00:16:58,436 Speaker 3: of the clickatat river where the rocky land pulls away 299 00:16:58,436 --> 00:17:02,356 Speaker 3: from the water. They called it the Break's Ranch. The 300 00:17:02,476 --> 00:17:05,516 Speaker 3: day they saw it, they made an offer. The next 301 00:17:05,596 --> 00:17:06,916 Speaker 3: day they got a call. 302 00:17:07,596 --> 00:17:08,756 Speaker 4: So the house burned down. 303 00:17:09,316 --> 00:17:14,476 Speaker 3: It is one hundred percent gone electrical fire. Consider that 304 00:17:14,556 --> 00:17:17,476 Speaker 3: this place is ten times the farm. George and Ann 305 00:17:17,556 --> 00:17:20,956 Speaker 3: have ever worked. Consider that the farmer's selling it or 306 00:17:21,036 --> 00:17:24,876 Speaker 3: doing so because they've fallen on hard times, and consider 307 00:17:25,196 --> 00:17:28,236 Speaker 3: that the house is now burned down. This I think 308 00:17:28,516 --> 00:17:30,916 Speaker 3: was a sign from the universe about what was to come. 309 00:17:31,596 --> 00:17:33,796 Speaker 3: George and Ann had the chance to fold up the 310 00:17:33,796 --> 00:17:37,116 Speaker 3: board and walk away, but that's no way to play 311 00:17:37,116 --> 00:17:37,476 Speaker 3: a game. 312 00:17:37,876 --> 00:17:41,596 Speaker 1: And we've been rolling fives and sixes since today. We 313 00:17:41,756 --> 00:17:45,396 Speaker 1: got off the bus. I said, Uh, well, hell, let's 314 00:17:46,036 --> 00:17:48,996 Speaker 1: let's go for the place and we'll build a house. 315 00:17:49,916 --> 00:17:52,876 Speaker 3: They negotiated the price down and bought the land and 316 00:17:52,916 --> 00:17:55,556 Speaker 3: also fifty head of cattle. A neighbor lent them a 317 00:17:55,596 --> 00:17:58,156 Speaker 3: trailer to live in, and George started to solve the 318 00:17:58,156 --> 00:18:00,356 Speaker 3: whole house situation in a very George way. 319 00:18:00,596 --> 00:18:03,836 Speaker 1: Well, it's like the fringe jacket, you know. And there 320 00:18:03,916 --> 00:18:07,836 Speaker 1: was a contractor in Yakima who was actually building two 321 00:18:08,036 --> 00:18:10,316 Speaker 1: geodesic dome at the top. 322 00:18:11,036 --> 00:18:14,636 Speaker 3: For the uninitiated. A geodesic dome is a structure popular 323 00:18:14,676 --> 00:18:18,076 Speaker 3: in the sixties counterculture, involving lots of triangles fit together 324 00:18:18,436 --> 00:18:19,596 Speaker 3: in the shape of a dome. 325 00:18:20,116 --> 00:18:22,956 Speaker 1: And you can put the walls in tior anywhere you 326 00:18:22,996 --> 00:18:25,676 Speaker 1: want them because they're not holding up the roof. The 327 00:18:25,756 --> 00:18:27,156 Speaker 1: roof is holding up the roof. 328 00:18:28,236 --> 00:18:31,516 Speaker 4: George was a dreamer. He believed everything could be done, 329 00:18:31,796 --> 00:18:35,156 Speaker 4: and he was right. He was right most of the time. 330 00:18:36,196 --> 00:18:40,036 Speaker 3: They bought the dome Easter weekend of nineteen seventy six, 331 00:18:40,316 --> 00:18:42,916 Speaker 3: with their one year old looking on. George and Anne 332 00:18:42,996 --> 00:18:46,476 Speaker 3: put up the forty five foot structure triangle by triangle. 333 00:18:46,556 --> 00:18:49,676 Speaker 3: With a bunch of friends. They moved into the basement, 334 00:18:50,156 --> 00:18:53,396 Speaker 3: plywood ceiling, concrete floors, with a drain in the middle, 335 00:18:53,756 --> 00:18:57,036 Speaker 3: a hose to draw water from the spring, and absolutely 336 00:18:57,596 --> 00:18:58,116 Speaker 3: no heat. 337 00:18:58,756 --> 00:19:02,196 Speaker 1: You talk about back to the land, we're. 338 00:19:01,996 --> 00:19:06,796 Speaker 3: Back only six years earlier. They'd never farmed in their lives. 339 00:19:07,316 --> 00:19:10,756 Speaker 3: Now they own one thousand acres miles from the nearest person, 340 00:19:11,036 --> 00:19:17,476 Speaker 3: surrounded by mountains. Spiritually, geographically, financially, they were way out there. 341 00:19:23,756 --> 00:19:26,196 Speaker 3: The trouble with games of chance is when they go 342 00:19:26,356 --> 00:19:29,556 Speaker 3: your way. You think it's all about you. You're lucky, 343 00:19:29,716 --> 00:19:31,996 Speaker 3: or you're special, you've got the hot hand or the 344 00:19:32,036 --> 00:19:34,956 Speaker 3: midas touch. But if you roll the dice often enough, 345 00:19:35,356 --> 00:19:38,876 Speaker 3: your average moves towards the middle, and if you've started high, 346 00:19:39,276 --> 00:19:40,596 Speaker 3: you're gonna get laid low. 347 00:19:42,036 --> 00:19:46,196 Speaker 1: Well, all of a sudden, a place that normally gets 348 00:19:46,316 --> 00:19:50,876 Speaker 1: twenty five to thirty inches of rain. We got four 349 00:19:50,916 --> 00:19:51,716 Speaker 1: inches of rain. 350 00:19:52,716 --> 00:19:55,676 Speaker 3: There wasn't enough hay to feed the cows, and instead 351 00:19:55,676 --> 00:19:58,796 Speaker 3: of thirty five bushels of wheat per acre, they made ten. 352 00:19:59,716 --> 00:20:02,876 Speaker 3: It was nineteen seventy seven. Something like this was happening 353 00:20:02,876 --> 00:20:07,316 Speaker 3: to farmers across America. Prices were down, costamerizing with inflation, 354 00:20:07,876 --> 00:20:10,276 Speaker 3: and farmers were having to take on more and more 355 00:20:10,356 --> 00:20:11,636 Speaker 3: debt just to survive. 356 00:20:12,716 --> 00:20:16,116 Speaker 1: And the pitomized stomach, the bottom is falling out. 357 00:20:17,636 --> 00:20:20,396 Speaker 3: They had their second child, a boy named David. 358 00:20:20,636 --> 00:20:25,516 Speaker 1: And so year seventy nine kicks in, we get two 359 00:20:25,556 --> 00:20:27,076 Speaker 1: and a half inches of rain. 360 00:20:28,036 --> 00:20:33,516 Speaker 3: Disaster, The crop failed, the farm was failing, and took 361 00:20:33,516 --> 00:20:36,316 Speaker 3: a job far out from the ranch, and things were 362 00:20:36,316 --> 00:20:39,596 Speaker 3: going badly for everyone. George could sense it in the 363 00:20:39,636 --> 00:20:41,316 Speaker 3: local store at the feed lot. 364 00:20:42,276 --> 00:20:46,196 Speaker 1: About the middle of May, and she gets out of 365 00:20:46,196 --> 00:20:50,316 Speaker 1: the car and I've just come in for dinner, and 366 00:20:50,756 --> 00:20:55,076 Speaker 1: she lets the kids loose in their room and she 367 00:20:55,516 --> 00:20:59,956 Speaker 1: comes up to me and she says, honey, I'm pregnant again. 368 00:21:02,196 --> 00:21:06,356 Speaker 4: We both knew that it was a slim chance. We 369 00:21:06,356 --> 00:21:09,876 Speaker 4: were staying that this we were gonna have to mith 370 00:21:09,916 --> 00:21:12,836 Speaker 4: the experiment failed and we were going to have to 371 00:21:12,876 --> 00:21:13,436 Speaker 4: give it up. 372 00:21:14,556 --> 00:21:17,556 Speaker 3: Anne and George owed more in interest on their debts 373 00:21:17,596 --> 00:21:20,236 Speaker 3: than they could make in a year. They were living 374 00:21:20,316 --> 00:21:23,076 Speaker 3: in an unfinished house with two kids and a third 375 00:21:23,116 --> 00:21:26,396 Speaker 3: on the way. The spring turned to summer and it 376 00:21:26,436 --> 00:21:29,556 Speaker 3: was time to cut the hay. George bailed by moonlight 377 00:21:29,636 --> 00:21:31,556 Speaker 3: when the dew came up and the dried out crop 378 00:21:31,636 --> 00:21:35,956 Speaker 3: had a chance of sticking together. On July seventh, nineteen 379 00:21:35,996 --> 00:21:40,276 Speaker 3: seventy nine, he got up at three am and stepped outside. 380 00:21:40,316 --> 00:21:43,956 Speaker 1: There's no other lights other than starlight above and the 381 00:21:44,036 --> 00:21:50,916 Speaker 1: lights of my tractor. And I'm as a lone as 382 00:21:50,956 --> 00:21:58,036 Speaker 1: a man can be, crushing pressures, no way out kind 383 00:21:58,076 --> 00:22:04,116 Speaker 1: of pressures. I am at fault for this disaster. What 384 00:22:05,196 --> 00:22:12,156 Speaker 1: can I do? And for some strange reason, I have 385 00:22:12,236 --> 00:22:17,396 Speaker 1: no idea how or why this blanked into my head. 386 00:22:18,636 --> 00:22:21,556 Speaker 1: This problem I'm in would make the hell of a 387 00:22:21,676 --> 00:22:23,276 Speaker 1: subject for a board game. 388 00:22:24,636 --> 00:22:32,076 Speaker 3: We'll be right back. It's nineteen seventy nine. Family farms 389 00:22:32,076 --> 00:22:35,876 Speaker 3: across America are in trouble. One farmer in particular is 390 00:22:35,916 --> 00:22:37,036 Speaker 3: taking it pretty hard. 391 00:22:37,476 --> 00:22:40,236 Speaker 1: Crop prices are just total shit. 392 00:22:40,996 --> 00:22:45,916 Speaker 3: George Robrocker, farmer in trouble crushing debt, failing farm baby 393 00:22:45,956 --> 00:22:48,396 Speaker 3: on the way. It's three am and he's out in 394 00:22:48,436 --> 00:22:52,716 Speaker 3: the field, not asleep, but still dreaming about a board game. 395 00:22:54,076 --> 00:22:58,196 Speaker 1: I finally get done, baileyen Hey, eat breakfast, go down 396 00:22:58,236 --> 00:23:00,836 Speaker 1: in the basement, get a scrap of sheet rock and 397 00:23:00,956 --> 00:23:06,716 Speaker 1: a framing square, and drawn myself a game board picture. 398 00:23:06,756 --> 00:23:10,196 Speaker 3: George alone in the basement of his geodesic dome, surrounded 399 00:23:10,236 --> 00:23:13,796 Speaker 3: by thousands of acres of failing farmland, scratching out a 400 00:23:13,836 --> 00:23:16,916 Speaker 3: board game on a loose piece of sheet rock. Here's 401 00:23:16,956 --> 00:23:20,956 Speaker 3: a fine line between genius and insanity, or sometimes no 402 00:23:21,076 --> 00:23:21,676 Speaker 3: line at all. 403 00:23:22,396 --> 00:23:26,316 Speaker 1: And it occurs to me that those four sides could 404 00:23:26,316 --> 00:23:30,356 Speaker 1: be the seasons. Okay, that makes sense. 405 00:23:31,076 --> 00:23:34,436 Speaker 3: The sun is high overhead now sapping the last moisture 406 00:23:34,476 --> 00:23:37,396 Speaker 3: from the alfalfa. There are cows to feed, work to do, 407 00:23:37,916 --> 00:23:41,156 Speaker 3: but George is riding the lightning. He can't stop inventing 408 00:23:41,556 --> 00:23:44,956 Speaker 3: farmer figurines, debt from the bank the Yakima Valley at 409 00:23:44,956 --> 00:23:48,796 Speaker 3: the center, a board game about how miserable it is 410 00:23:49,356 --> 00:23:50,156 Speaker 3: to be a farmer. 411 00:23:51,396 --> 00:23:53,596 Speaker 1: I didn't go back out to the field, I didn't 412 00:23:53,596 --> 00:23:59,836 Speaker 1: eat lunch, and comes home and it's pretty warm, the 413 00:23:59,956 --> 00:24:03,916 Speaker 1: kids are fried, and she walks in the door and 414 00:24:03,996 --> 00:24:07,716 Speaker 1: I just literally can't wait for the kids to get 415 00:24:07,756 --> 00:24:11,436 Speaker 1: out of the way to tell her I've just discovered 416 00:24:11,636 --> 00:24:13,956 Speaker 1: the trapdoor the way out of this mess. 417 00:24:14,476 --> 00:24:17,956 Speaker 4: It had just come like full out of his head. 418 00:24:17,996 --> 00:24:22,076 Speaker 4: Here was this game, and we got to do this, yo. 419 00:24:22,236 --> 00:24:24,636 Speaker 4: This is what's what's gonna save us. 420 00:24:25,076 --> 00:24:28,956 Speaker 1: And she gave me a look like, are you frigging crazy? 421 00:24:30,356 --> 00:24:31,396 Speaker 1: A board game? 422 00:24:31,876 --> 00:24:34,916 Speaker 4: One crazy thing that's goo to see the other crazy thing. 423 00:24:35,876 --> 00:24:38,556 Speaker 3: The game works a bit like Monopoly. It starts when 424 00:24:38,556 --> 00:24:41,516 Speaker 3: you inherit land from your grandfather ten acres of hay 425 00:24:41,556 --> 00:24:44,196 Speaker 3: and ten acres of wheat, each represented by a little 426 00:24:44,276 --> 00:24:46,636 Speaker 3: vinyl stamp with a bale of hay or a wheatstock 427 00:24:46,676 --> 00:24:49,156 Speaker 3: on it. There are six farms in the center of 428 00:24:49,156 --> 00:24:51,396 Speaker 3: the board, each named after a real place in the 429 00:24:51,436 --> 00:24:54,396 Speaker 3: Yakima Valley, and you've got one of them. Around the 430 00:24:54,476 --> 00:24:57,316 Speaker 3: edge of the board is the calendar year, blocked off 431 00:24:57,356 --> 00:25:01,516 Speaker 3: by harvest times, your hay cuttings, cherry harvest, livestock sales, 432 00:25:01,556 --> 00:25:04,436 Speaker 3: and so on. You begin with five thousand dollars in 433 00:25:04,516 --> 00:25:07,836 Speaker 3: debt with a fifty thousand dollars line of credit. The 434 00:25:07,916 --> 00:25:10,516 Speaker 3: goal is to make enough on your farm that you 435 00:25:10,556 --> 00:25:13,156 Speaker 3: can quit your job in town, which at the start 436 00:25:13,196 --> 00:25:15,716 Speaker 3: is the only way you're staying afloat. It is a 437 00:25:15,756 --> 00:25:20,356 Speaker 3: punishing game. Typically, your debt only gets worse in the winter. 438 00:25:20,636 --> 00:25:23,836 Speaker 3: You can buy more seed or livestock or equipment, but 439 00:25:24,116 --> 00:25:26,396 Speaker 3: it almost always costs more than the cash you have 440 00:25:26,476 --> 00:25:30,316 Speaker 3: on hand, so you have to borrow and eventually either 441 00:25:30,356 --> 00:25:32,996 Speaker 3: pay it back or declare bankruptcy. 442 00:25:33,356 --> 00:25:35,716 Speaker 4: But that was farming. Had to have the debt. It 443 00:25:35,756 --> 00:25:38,636 Speaker 4: is spanishing. It's not fun all the time, so we 444 00:25:38,756 --> 00:25:41,836 Speaker 4: had to do balance make it be possible. 445 00:25:42,436 --> 00:25:45,356 Speaker 3: They spent every night working out the mechanism of the game, 446 00:25:45,836 --> 00:25:49,156 Speaker 3: playing it again and again. They put everything they'd learned 447 00:25:49,156 --> 00:25:52,196 Speaker 3: about farming into it. In harvest seasons, you roll the 448 00:25:52,236 --> 00:25:54,556 Speaker 3: dice to see how good your crop is, check the 449 00:25:54,556 --> 00:25:57,596 Speaker 3: harvest rate chart for prices per acre, and then pull 450 00:25:57,596 --> 00:26:00,316 Speaker 3: an operating expense card that tells you how much it's 451 00:26:00,356 --> 00:26:04,156 Speaker 3: going to cost to harvest that crop. Sometimes you land 452 00:26:04,196 --> 00:26:06,876 Speaker 3: on a farmer's fate square and you have to draw 453 00:26:06,916 --> 00:26:09,756 Speaker 3: a card to see how you're lux breaking. Often something 454 00:26:09,796 --> 00:26:14,636 Speaker 3: bad happens tractor malfunction, grain embargo, irs, garnishing your wages, 455 00:26:14,996 --> 00:26:18,556 Speaker 3: Mount Saint Helen's erupting. All these things that could happen 456 00:26:18,596 --> 00:26:20,716 Speaker 3: to you in the game, all of them had happened 457 00:26:20,716 --> 00:26:23,516 Speaker 3: to George, Ann or one of their friends at some point. 458 00:26:23,796 --> 00:26:26,996 Speaker 3: It's a perfect model of the family farm. It's also 459 00:26:27,036 --> 00:26:29,956 Speaker 3: the story of their lives. But just like when they 460 00:26:29,956 --> 00:26:34,076 Speaker 3: got into farming, George and Ann had absolutely no idea 461 00:26:34,356 --> 00:26:35,956 Speaker 3: how to manufacture a board game. 462 00:26:36,556 --> 00:26:41,276 Speaker 4: And at the time we just thought we needed a printer. 463 00:26:41,436 --> 00:26:43,316 Speaker 4: We just thought we needed a box maker. 464 00:26:43,836 --> 00:26:46,316 Speaker 3: It turned out nearly every part of the game needed 465 00:26:46,316 --> 00:26:50,276 Speaker 3: to be manufactured by a specialist. The folding cardboard came 466 00:26:50,276 --> 00:26:53,636 Speaker 3: from Los Angeles, the acreage stamps from New Jersey, the 467 00:26:53,716 --> 00:26:56,836 Speaker 3: dice from Rhode Island. One company prints the money, a 468 00:26:56,836 --> 00:26:59,156 Speaker 3: different one makes the game board art, and another makes 469 00:26:59,196 --> 00:27:01,636 Speaker 3: the board backing. And the family still had to cut 470 00:27:01,636 --> 00:27:04,356 Speaker 3: out each individual play dollar in their basement. 471 00:27:04,556 --> 00:27:08,236 Speaker 4: And our four year old would put a a rubber 472 00:27:08,276 --> 00:27:09,596 Speaker 4: band around for us. 473 00:27:10,716 --> 00:27:14,756 Speaker 3: It's August nineteen seventy nine. As George worked on piecing 474 00:27:14,756 --> 00:27:18,156 Speaker 3: the game's supply chain together, farmers around the country were 475 00:27:18,236 --> 00:27:21,876 Speaker 3: sounding the alarm about a coming crisis in agriculture. 476 00:27:22,156 --> 00:27:26,796 Speaker 8: The tractors are traveling in a caravan, honking horns, waving flags, 477 00:27:27,036 --> 00:27:30,196 Speaker 8: and sporting posters in an attempt to gather more support 478 00:27:30,316 --> 00:27:32,996 Speaker 8: for farmers across the country. 479 00:27:33,236 --> 00:27:36,316 Speaker 3: Farmers drove their tractors to Washington, DC that year to 480 00:27:36,356 --> 00:27:41,396 Speaker 3: protest falling prices and rising costs. They called it a tractorcade. 481 00:27:41,436 --> 00:27:44,436 Speaker 3: Most farmers were facing a version of George's problem. They 482 00:27:44,436 --> 00:27:48,676 Speaker 3: were over leveraged, underpaid, and unable to explain the complexities 483 00:27:48,716 --> 00:27:51,876 Speaker 3: of their situation to voters who mainly cared about keeping 484 00:27:51,916 --> 00:27:55,756 Speaker 3: the price of groceries down. The situation was only getting 485 00:27:55,796 --> 00:28:00,036 Speaker 3: worse all the while George was building his own lifeboat. 486 00:28:00,596 --> 00:28:03,356 Speaker 3: It's September. If George and Ann were going to make 487 00:28:03,356 --> 00:28:06,916 Speaker 3: any money, they needed to go big, so they sold 488 00:28:07,036 --> 00:28:10,356 Speaker 3: half their cows, took out a loan in order to 489 00:28:10,436 --> 00:28:12,796 Speaker 3: run of ten thousand games. 490 00:28:12,996 --> 00:28:15,316 Speaker 4: When we say we bet the ranch on it, we did. 491 00:28:15,636 --> 00:28:19,236 Speaker 3: Board games sell best at Christmas. December was only three 492 00:28:19,276 --> 00:28:22,116 Speaker 3: months away and was due at the end of November. 493 00:28:22,556 --> 00:28:25,716 Speaker 1: The middle of September turns into the end of September, 494 00:28:25,756 --> 00:28:28,676 Speaker 1: and the end of September turns into October. 495 00:28:29,356 --> 00:28:32,116 Speaker 3: But making the game is only half the work. Sewing 496 00:28:32,156 --> 00:28:33,556 Speaker 3: without reaping one. 497 00:28:33,356 --> 00:28:37,076 Speaker 1: Of the questions, of course, when you're producing ten thousand 498 00:28:37,156 --> 00:28:39,676 Speaker 1: copies of a board game, is how do you sell 499 00:28:39,716 --> 00:28:40,316 Speaker 1: the damn thing? 500 00:28:42,396 --> 00:28:45,156 Speaker 3: In case you hadn't noticed, George is a born salesman. 501 00:28:45,556 --> 00:28:48,516 Speaker 3: He sent a letter pitching the game to President Jimmy Carter. 502 00:28:49,156 --> 00:28:52,436 Speaker 1: Three weeks after I sent the letter, I got a 503 00:28:52,556 --> 00:28:57,836 Speaker 1: mimeograph letter from underling of an underling saying, essentially, thank 504 00:28:57,876 --> 00:29:00,396 Speaker 1: you for whatever you said to the White House. 505 00:29:00,636 --> 00:29:04,596 Speaker 3: Have a nice day, a bum roll. But meanwhile, George 506 00:29:04,596 --> 00:29:07,836 Speaker 3: had started writing ads for farm magazines with information about 507 00:29:07,836 --> 00:29:09,956 Speaker 3: how to order the game, and the order started to 508 00:29:09,956 --> 00:29:13,996 Speaker 3: trickle in, And then George had an idea for a 509 00:29:14,036 --> 00:29:14,916 Speaker 3: Hail Mary. 510 00:29:15,916 --> 00:29:20,476 Speaker 1: Hello Americans, This is Paul Harvey, stand bype on yous. 511 00:29:20,676 --> 00:29:23,756 Speaker 3: Paul Harvey was a radio broadcaster who is especially popular 512 00:29:23,796 --> 00:29:28,196 Speaker 3: among farmers. Everybody listened to him on tractors, trucks, and 513 00:29:28,236 --> 00:29:32,676 Speaker 3: bus radios. Probably there is no radio program American cattle 514 00:29:32,756 --> 00:29:35,596 Speaker 3: have heard more of. George dashed off a letter to 515 00:29:35,636 --> 00:29:38,196 Speaker 3: Harvey and slipped in a copy of an article about 516 00:29:38,236 --> 00:29:41,796 Speaker 3: the game from a local newspaper. The days passed, and 517 00:29:41,836 --> 00:29:46,196 Speaker 3: then miraculously, Paul Harvey talked about it on his show 518 00:29:47,356 --> 00:29:49,876 Speaker 3: Harvey's archives are a bit of a shambles, so I 519 00:29:49,916 --> 00:29:52,996 Speaker 3: couldn't find the broadcast to confirm for myself. George and 520 00:29:53,036 --> 00:29:55,876 Speaker 3: Ann didn't hear it directly either. They found out about it, 521 00:29:55,956 --> 00:29:59,316 Speaker 3: they said, because all of a sudden their games started 522 00:29:59,316 --> 00:29:59,916 Speaker 3: to sell. 523 00:30:00,156 --> 00:30:04,396 Speaker 4: Dolors, and Western Farmers said that Paul Harvey spoke about it, 524 00:30:04,916 --> 00:30:06,876 Speaker 4: and so they all want one in their store. 525 00:30:07,516 --> 00:30:11,036 Speaker 3: Western Farmers Association was a big chain of farm stores. 526 00:30:11,476 --> 00:30:14,276 Speaker 3: It was late November and the game was moving. George 527 00:30:14,356 --> 00:30:16,876 Speaker 3: hitched a horse trailer to his pickup and loaded it 528 00:30:16,956 --> 00:30:20,356 Speaker 3: up with games to bring to the stores that Saturday. 529 00:30:20,956 --> 00:30:22,076 Speaker 3: An went into labor. 530 00:30:22,876 --> 00:30:27,796 Speaker 1: Well, Laura had the good sense and the courtesy to 531 00:30:28,036 --> 00:30:30,916 Speaker 1: hold up until we got the lid on the box, 532 00:30:31,316 --> 00:30:32,716 Speaker 1: and Laura was born at. 533 00:30:32,556 --> 00:30:37,036 Speaker 3: Home Sunday night at one thirty am. Meanwhile, word of 534 00:30:37,076 --> 00:30:39,716 Speaker 3: the game had begun to spread through the Grange Halls 535 00:30:39,876 --> 00:30:43,036 Speaker 3: farm magazines, even a story in the Washington Post just 536 00:30:43,076 --> 00:30:43,716 Speaker 3: weeks later. 537 00:30:43,916 --> 00:30:46,956 Speaker 1: Wellin six weeks, we had sold seven thousand, up to 538 00:30:47,076 --> 00:30:48,436 Speaker 1: ten thousand copies. 539 00:30:48,956 --> 00:30:51,476 Speaker 3: In the nick of time, it looked like George and 540 00:30:51,476 --> 00:30:54,756 Speaker 3: Ann were going to save their farm. But that's after 541 00:30:54,796 --> 00:31:05,916 Speaker 3: the break in January of nineteen eighty, the farming game 542 00:31:06,036 --> 00:31:09,076 Speaker 3: was starting to take off. People magazine wrote it up, 543 00:31:09,596 --> 00:31:12,676 Speaker 3: and in George started a company called the Weekend Farmer 544 00:31:12,716 --> 00:31:15,276 Speaker 3: Company to manage it. But they needed this game to 545 00:31:15,316 --> 00:31:17,836 Speaker 3: be more than a passing fad. They needed it to 546 00:31:17,876 --> 00:31:21,076 Speaker 3: pay for itself and help them save their farm. So 547 00:31:21,196 --> 00:31:23,236 Speaker 3: George worked up a new sales strategy. 548 00:31:24,036 --> 00:31:28,596 Speaker 1: In the wintertime, there are farm supply shows all over 549 00:31:28,916 --> 00:31:33,476 Speaker 1: the United States where farmers go to kick the tires 550 00:31:33,516 --> 00:31:36,476 Speaker 1: on the new tractor whatnot. 551 00:31:36,676 --> 00:31:38,996 Speaker 3: He decided to tour the farm shows selling the game. 552 00:31:39,556 --> 00:31:42,436 Speaker 3: They bought an old fifteen passenger Dodge van and took 553 00:31:42,436 --> 00:31:44,876 Speaker 3: out all the seats. If you packed it to the roof, 554 00:31:45,196 --> 00:31:48,796 Speaker 3: it held twelve hundred games. George hit the road. 555 00:31:49,436 --> 00:31:54,156 Speaker 1: And so what I would do is, I'm headed to Missoula, Montana, 556 00:31:54,236 --> 00:31:57,636 Speaker 1: and I stop in every little town on the way there. 557 00:31:57,956 --> 00:32:02,076 Speaker 1: In little towns, the people that manage the stores or 558 00:32:02,276 --> 00:32:04,676 Speaker 1: did at that time, or the people that own the stores, 559 00:32:04,716 --> 00:32:07,276 Speaker 1: and you could walk in the front door and within 560 00:32:07,436 --> 00:32:09,756 Speaker 1: a minute and a half be talking to the owner 561 00:32:10,396 --> 00:32:13,956 Speaker 1: and find out if you could sell the game to 562 00:32:14,036 --> 00:32:16,676 Speaker 1: the guy or not, and if not, you're back on 563 00:32:16,716 --> 00:32:18,716 Speaker 1: the road. Five minutes later. 564 00:32:19,356 --> 00:32:22,116 Speaker 3: This was how the farming Game found its true audience, 565 00:32:22,356 --> 00:32:25,316 Speaker 3: the diehards. Somebody would play with a friend and then 566 00:32:25,356 --> 00:32:28,676 Speaker 3: that friend would order a copy. Eventually, George and Ann 567 00:32:28,756 --> 00:32:31,716 Speaker 3: set up an eight hundred number. Soon a ups driver 568 00:32:31,876 --> 00:32:34,076 Speaker 3: was coming out to the farm most days, passed the 569 00:32:34,116 --> 00:32:36,796 Speaker 3: sign reading Primitive Road to pick up shipments of the 570 00:32:36,836 --> 00:32:39,996 Speaker 3: Farming Game. In the summer, he'd bring the kids popsicles. 571 00:32:40,316 --> 00:32:43,036 Speaker 3: The eight hundred number patched straight into the house and 572 00:32:43,076 --> 00:32:44,276 Speaker 3: the phone rang off the hook. 573 00:32:44,676 --> 00:32:48,276 Speaker 4: The phone was beside our bed, so we answered it 574 00:32:48,516 --> 00:32:52,276 Speaker 4: in the middle of the night, so sometimes you're talking 575 00:32:52,276 --> 00:32:54,796 Speaker 4: to the phone boy. It's a good thing. You cannot see. 576 00:32:55,716 --> 00:32:57,636 Speaker 4: There's no video that goes with this phone. 577 00:32:59,116 --> 00:33:01,396 Speaker 3: George kept on the road to turn up new business, 578 00:33:01,716 --> 00:33:04,156 Speaker 3: but as he drove around the country games in tow 579 00:33:04,516 --> 00:33:09,956 Speaker 3: agriculture had fallen into a death spiral. While farmers were 580 00:33:09,956 --> 00:33:13,636 Speaker 3: growing on credit in the nineteen seventies, inflation was rising too, 581 00:33:14,156 --> 00:33:16,956 Speaker 3: and the Federal Reserve decided to jack up interest rates 582 00:33:16,996 --> 00:33:20,556 Speaker 3: to slow it down. Suddenly, banks started calling in the 583 00:33:20,556 --> 00:33:23,436 Speaker 3: loans they'd been so confident in years earlier, and the 584 00:33:23,476 --> 00:33:27,116 Speaker 3: farmers couldn't pay. Within the span of just a couple years, 585 00:33:27,676 --> 00:33:31,756 Speaker 3: family farm income dropped by more than eighty percent. In 586 00:33:31,836 --> 00:33:35,196 Speaker 3: nineteen eighty one, the USDA said about half the farmers 587 00:33:35,196 --> 00:33:37,756 Speaker 3: in the country would eventually be driven from the land. 588 00:33:38,676 --> 00:33:41,756 Speaker 3: But it wasn't just the farms when they went all 589 00:33:41,836 --> 00:33:44,676 Speaker 3: the small local businesses that sold them seeds for the 590 00:33:44,676 --> 00:33:47,276 Speaker 3: fields and feed for their livestock, and ice cream and 591 00:33:47,316 --> 00:33:51,556 Speaker 3: candy for their kids. They began to close. Two rural 592 00:33:51,556 --> 00:33:54,876 Speaker 3: communities and family farms were falling apart. 593 00:33:55,916 --> 00:33:59,996 Speaker 1: We had a nationwide economic crisis, which at the very 594 00:34:00,076 --> 00:34:05,436 Speaker 1: same time was it a nationwide family crisis because at 595 00:34:05,436 --> 00:34:10,636 Speaker 1: that time every farm in the United States had some 596 00:34:11,076 --> 00:34:15,916 Speaker 1: family roots two or three or four five generations back. 597 00:34:16,036 --> 00:34:21,356 Speaker 1: So you inherit this from granddad, and you're the dumb, 598 00:34:21,436 --> 00:34:22,996 Speaker 1: sull bitch who lost it. 599 00:34:24,076 --> 00:34:26,396 Speaker 3: A lot of that land was bought by farm management 600 00:34:26,436 --> 00:34:30,196 Speaker 3: companies corporations. We sometimes hired the broke farmers from the 601 00:34:30,236 --> 00:34:33,436 Speaker 3: same farms back to work it. However bad it was 602 00:34:33,476 --> 00:34:36,556 Speaker 3: for white farmers, it was worse for black farmers. They 603 00:34:36,596 --> 00:34:40,756 Speaker 3: lost their land ten times faster. More than half a 604 00:34:40,796 --> 00:34:45,676 Speaker 3: million people left rural America in a single year. Losing 605 00:34:45,676 --> 00:34:49,756 Speaker 3: a job is one thing. Losing a farm is losing everything. 606 00:34:50,556 --> 00:34:55,036 Speaker 1: It looked like death. And when you bury the farm, 607 00:34:55,156 --> 00:34:57,116 Speaker 1: a big part of your heart, a big part of 608 00:34:57,156 --> 00:35:02,276 Speaker 1: who you are, a big part of who your family is, 609 00:35:02,276 --> 00:35:12,236 Speaker 1: is dead. But it's I can't go any deeper into that. 610 00:35:13,476 --> 00:35:16,436 Speaker 7: The situation with bad loans and low prices has gotten. 611 00:35:16,196 --> 00:35:19,396 Speaker 1: So bad the nation's largest source of farm loans need 612 00:35:19,476 --> 00:35:20,996 Speaker 1: big help and fast. 613 00:35:21,156 --> 00:35:25,116 Speaker 5: Ninety three thousand mid sized US farms are deeply in 614 00:35:25,196 --> 00:35:27,316 Speaker 5: debt and are on the verge of going broke. 615 00:35:27,516 --> 00:35:31,756 Speaker 1: I had a gun in a pickup. The thoughts that 616 00:35:31,916 --> 00:35:35,916 Speaker 1: entered my mind that maybe my family was better off 617 00:35:36,356 --> 00:35:37,396 Speaker 1: with me going alive. 618 00:35:40,556 --> 00:35:44,676 Speaker 3: It was terrible, But as the crisis worsened, the Farming 619 00:35:44,716 --> 00:35:47,996 Speaker 3: Game became a kind of advocacy tool in a way 620 00:35:48,036 --> 00:35:50,876 Speaker 3: for farm families to find some relief from their troubles. 621 00:35:51,796 --> 00:35:54,436 Speaker 3: A North Dakota mental health program used the game to 622 00:35:54,436 --> 00:35:58,156 Speaker 3: help farmers relieve stress and talk about their problems. It 623 00:35:58,196 --> 00:36:02,036 Speaker 3: became well. It became a body of knowledge, a chronicle 624 00:36:02,076 --> 00:36:06,316 Speaker 3: of a disappearing way of life, but maybe also a 625 00:36:06,356 --> 00:36:07,076 Speaker 3: way to save it. 626 00:36:08,996 --> 00:36:12,636 Speaker 1: In Southern California, whose family was in the citrus business, 627 00:36:13,556 --> 00:36:16,876 Speaker 1: was given the Farming Game for Christmas, and when she 628 00:36:17,076 --> 00:36:22,236 Speaker 1: played it. Immediately, she saw the ability to teach the 629 00:36:22,276 --> 00:36:28,196 Speaker 1: basic economics of farming and just the social superstructure in 630 00:36:28,276 --> 00:36:31,316 Speaker 1: which the business is set. 631 00:36:31,716 --> 00:36:34,796 Speaker 3: The lady worked for an advocacy group for women in agriculture. 632 00:36:35,636 --> 00:36:38,676 Speaker 3: In the mid nineteen eighties, they decided the country needed 633 00:36:38,716 --> 00:36:41,356 Speaker 3: to know about the game. They flooded the halls of 634 00:36:41,396 --> 00:36:44,556 Speaker 3: the Capitol with hundreds of board games, one for each 635 00:36:44,636 --> 00:36:48,196 Speaker 3: member of Congress, five hundred and thirty five games in all, 636 00:36:48,676 --> 00:36:52,876 Speaker 3: trying to explain what was happening to farmers. The board 637 00:36:52,876 --> 00:36:56,236 Speaker 3: game didn't get any laws passed, but it was making 638 00:36:56,236 --> 00:36:58,876 Speaker 3: its way out into the world, sharing the hardships of 639 00:36:58,916 --> 00:37:01,756 Speaker 3: farming and the joy of it. Right when the country 640 00:37:01,836 --> 00:37:05,676 Speaker 3: hit a crisis of understanding, schools began teaching the game 641 00:37:05,716 --> 00:37:09,276 Speaker 3: in droves. According to George, more than three thousand and 642 00:37:09,276 --> 00:37:12,116 Speaker 3: classrooms in North America have used the game in one 643 00:37:12,116 --> 00:37:14,676 Speaker 3: way or another to teach kids about what it means 644 00:37:14,716 --> 00:37:17,556 Speaker 3: to run a farm. I talked to a slew of 645 00:37:17,556 --> 00:37:21,076 Speaker 3: agriculture teachers and they all said the same thing. The 646 00:37:21,156 --> 00:37:24,116 Speaker 3: game was a perfect teaching tool because it was fun 647 00:37:24,276 --> 00:37:27,556 Speaker 3: and it was true. It got passed along one year 648 00:37:27,596 --> 00:37:31,076 Speaker 3: to the next, spread from classroom to classroom. Like seeds 649 00:37:31,076 --> 00:37:35,116 Speaker 3: on the Wind, the Washington State Legislature passed a resolution 650 00:37:35,356 --> 00:37:39,676 Speaker 3: recognizing the game's educational value. When the Soviet Union fell, 651 00:37:40,076 --> 00:37:44,356 Speaker 3: the US Agency for International Development helped bring George and 652 00:37:44,476 --> 00:37:48,236 Speaker 3: the Game to Russia to help teach what privatized farming 653 00:37:48,316 --> 00:37:53,036 Speaker 3: would look like. Over time, the game sold hundreds of 654 00:37:53,116 --> 00:37:57,276 Speaker 3: thousands of copies. With the money from the Farming Game, 655 00:37:57,556 --> 00:38:00,396 Speaker 3: George and Ann could keep their own farm running, a 656 00:38:00,436 --> 00:38:03,396 Speaker 3: small oasis at the far reaches of the farm crisis. 657 00:38:04,156 --> 00:38:06,636 Speaker 6: The house that we grew up in was built up 658 00:38:06,676 --> 00:38:07,236 Speaker 6: around us. 659 00:38:07,836 --> 00:38:11,836 Speaker 3: Laura Roherbucker, the daughter who occasioned the Farming Game, She 660 00:38:11,956 --> 00:38:13,636 Speaker 3: and the game they're the same age. 661 00:38:14,356 --> 00:38:15,756 Speaker 6: I don't know if you heard the story. Like when 662 00:38:15,756 --> 00:38:17,956 Speaker 6: I was born, there's this little nook in our living 663 00:38:18,036 --> 00:38:20,796 Speaker 6: room and my dad was building it, and my mom said, Okay, 664 00:38:20,796 --> 00:38:22,876 Speaker 6: I'm gonna have this baby, stop building, so clean up 665 00:38:22,876 --> 00:38:25,556 Speaker 6: your mess. And then my dad never finished that little nook. 666 00:38:25,596 --> 00:38:28,676 Speaker 6: You can still go there and there's still like insulation sticking. 667 00:38:28,396 --> 00:38:29,156 Speaker 4: Out around it. 668 00:38:29,716 --> 00:38:31,956 Speaker 3: All the kids remember the phones, how the ring of 669 00:38:31,996 --> 00:38:34,596 Speaker 3: the eight hundred numbers sounded different than the other two lines. 670 00:38:35,156 --> 00:38:38,556 Speaker 3: The order sheets printed in triple get posted by each phone. 671 00:38:38,636 --> 00:38:41,516 Speaker 6: It rang all hours, so back then, like eight hundre 672 00:38:41,556 --> 00:38:43,796 Speaker 6: number twenty four seven just rang into our house and 673 00:38:43,836 --> 00:38:46,116 Speaker 6: all the kids we're going off the wall, like doing 674 00:38:46,196 --> 00:38:49,236 Speaker 6: whatever we're doing, and just monkeying around, and my dad 675 00:38:49,276 --> 00:38:50,716 Speaker 6: would yell before aso the phone, it's. 676 00:38:50,556 --> 00:38:51,156 Speaker 4: A money call. 677 00:38:51,236 --> 00:38:54,716 Speaker 6: It's a money call, quiet town, And of course we wouldn't. 678 00:38:54,756 --> 00:38:58,356 Speaker 6: And so then my dad's trying to take a farming 679 00:38:58,356 --> 00:39:01,676 Speaker 6: game order on the phone as these crazy noises here 680 00:39:01,716 --> 00:39:05,516 Speaker 6: in the background, and we'd hear him say, oh, congratulations, 681 00:39:05,516 --> 00:39:08,676 Speaker 6: you're the ten thousands call or this week or something. 682 00:39:09,116 --> 00:39:11,236 Speaker 6: We're all celebrating here in the office, and it's just 683 00:39:11,316 --> 00:39:13,756 Speaker 6: us kids yelling and screaming in the background. 684 00:39:15,076 --> 00:39:18,636 Speaker 3: Farm kids are born into jobs. Farming game kids the same. 685 00:39:19,116 --> 00:39:20,996 Speaker 3: When they got to be eight or so, they started 686 00:39:21,036 --> 00:39:22,316 Speaker 3: taking the calls themselves. 687 00:39:22,796 --> 00:39:24,636 Speaker 6: If you didn't feel like taking an order, but you 688 00:39:24,676 --> 00:39:26,636 Speaker 6: were the one closest to the phone, you know, your 689 00:39:26,636 --> 00:39:28,636 Speaker 6: brothers would scatter and you'd be the ones staying there 690 00:39:28,636 --> 00:39:31,836 Speaker 6: with the phone's ringing, So you'd answer the phone, Hello, 691 00:39:31,876 --> 00:39:34,596 Speaker 6: we can for our company in a year old voice. 692 00:39:34,876 --> 00:39:37,396 Speaker 6: M yes, oh that's a great question. But this is 693 00:39:37,436 --> 00:39:40,316 Speaker 6: a shipping department. Let me get you sales, and you 694 00:39:40,356 --> 00:39:42,596 Speaker 6: put them on hold, and then you say, Mom, the 695 00:39:42,676 --> 00:39:43,356 Speaker 6: phones for you. 696 00:39:47,076 --> 00:39:50,436 Speaker 3: The house was full of games, cardboard boxes for forts, 697 00:39:50,676 --> 00:39:54,436 Speaker 3: hundreds of dice, millions of dollars in play money. But 698 00:39:54,516 --> 00:39:57,476 Speaker 3: the house itself was a kind of wonderland too. At 699 00:39:57,556 --> 00:40:00,596 Speaker 3: Christmas they'd get these gigantic twenty foot trees and nail 700 00:40:00,636 --> 00:40:04,436 Speaker 3: them straight into the floor. They lived year round in nature, 701 00:40:04,836 --> 00:40:08,076 Speaker 3: watching the seasons turn, shading one into the other. At 702 00:40:08,076 --> 00:40:08,756 Speaker 3: each corner of. 703 00:40:08,756 --> 00:40:11,636 Speaker 6: The game, you get just enough snow to pull the 704 00:40:11,676 --> 00:40:15,116 Speaker 6: sleds out and slid down the horse pasture. You know, 705 00:40:15,476 --> 00:40:17,756 Speaker 6: that's right next to like this little creek that when 706 00:40:17,796 --> 00:40:19,796 Speaker 6: the snow melts, it fills with water and you get 707 00:40:19,876 --> 00:40:22,476 Speaker 6: to like get sticks and pretend they're fishing poles and 708 00:40:22,516 --> 00:40:24,956 Speaker 6: then just pass that as the waterfall that pours down 709 00:40:25,036 --> 00:40:27,036 Speaker 6: and in the spring it rages like you got to 710 00:40:27,076 --> 00:40:29,036 Speaker 6: keep little kids away from it. And then by the 711 00:40:29,116 --> 00:40:30,916 Speaker 6: end of summer it's totally dry and you just have 712 00:40:31,076 --> 00:40:33,476 Speaker 6: like a rocky bet. I mean, there's just you can 713 00:40:33,516 --> 00:40:36,596 Speaker 6: explore forever just right outside the door. 714 00:40:38,956 --> 00:40:41,676 Speaker 3: That life is why George and Anne, but everything they 715 00:40:41,716 --> 00:40:44,516 Speaker 3: had on the game a long shot to let them 716 00:40:44,596 --> 00:40:48,196 Speaker 3: raise their kids in nature, tending nature. They were an 717 00:40:48,236 --> 00:40:52,596 Speaker 3: idiosyncratic farm family, but other farm families, even ones who 718 00:40:52,676 --> 00:40:55,636 Speaker 3: didn't live in geodes Sicdomes, have always been the game's 719 00:40:55,676 --> 00:40:59,956 Speaker 3: biggest audience, And during those hard years when rural America 720 00:41:00,116 --> 00:41:03,876 Speaker 3: was coming apart, they were playing it in so many kitchens, 721 00:41:04,156 --> 00:41:06,396 Speaker 3: with the table cleared and the bright green of the 722 00:41:06,476 --> 00:41:09,596 Speaker 3: Yakima Valley laid out under the ceiling lamp, the dark 723 00:41:09,636 --> 00:41:13,556 Speaker 3: outside s trouting an ailing farm, the family imagining what 724 00:41:13,596 --> 00:41:16,396 Speaker 3: a lucky role would feel like, or a bumper crop, 725 00:41:16,996 --> 00:41:19,556 Speaker 3: or a bad thing you could laugh at instead of cry. 726 00:41:23,036 --> 00:41:26,636 Speaker 3: Those moments are the game's true legacy, and they aren't 727 00:41:26,676 --> 00:41:30,116 Speaker 3: recorded for posterity, but George glimpsed one of them one 728 00:41:30,236 --> 00:41:32,556 Speaker 3: year during the crisis when he had left his family 729 00:41:32,596 --> 00:41:34,796 Speaker 3: at the ranch to head out on the road selling 730 00:41:34,836 --> 00:41:38,596 Speaker 3: the game at an agricultural exposition in Montana. 731 00:41:39,236 --> 00:41:42,636 Speaker 1: And I'm sitting behind the booth waiting for a customer 732 00:41:42,676 --> 00:41:45,756 Speaker 1: to walk by, and there's sort of a crowd of 733 00:41:46,236 --> 00:41:49,876 Speaker 1: people milling around, and at the back of this crowd 734 00:41:50,116 --> 00:41:59,316 Speaker 1: was this absolutely gigantic guy farmer. Anyway, he is eyeball 735 00:41:59,396 --> 00:42:02,116 Speaker 1: in the booth an eyeball on me, and I'm thinking, boy, 736 00:42:02,196 --> 00:42:05,996 Speaker 1: what's on his mind? If it's not good, I don't 737 00:42:05,996 --> 00:42:09,476 Speaker 1: want to be here. He kind of pushes his way 738 00:42:09,516 --> 00:42:12,316 Speaker 1: through the crowd and he comes right up to me, 739 00:42:13,476 --> 00:42:16,316 Speaker 1: and he said, I want, I want to shake your hand. 740 00:42:16,996 --> 00:42:21,596 Speaker 1: And I am hooked in a handshake with a oh 741 00:42:21,636 --> 00:42:24,676 Speaker 1: about a six foot six, three hundred and fifty pounds 742 00:42:25,636 --> 00:42:30,196 Speaker 1: guy who could wrestle a steer and win. And he's crying. 743 00:42:31,716 --> 00:42:34,236 Speaker 3: The man told George he was divorced with two sons. 744 00:42:34,716 --> 00:42:38,116 Speaker 3: The oldest, a teenager, had been arrested not long before. 745 00:42:38,716 --> 00:42:40,836 Speaker 3: When his son was home from jail and was over 746 00:42:40,876 --> 00:42:43,516 Speaker 3: at his dad's house with his little brother, they pulled 747 00:42:43,556 --> 00:42:46,036 Speaker 3: out the farming game and the three of them began 748 00:42:46,156 --> 00:42:46,516 Speaker 3: to play. 749 00:42:47,116 --> 00:42:51,316 Speaker 1: They were laughing and just being the kind of family 750 00:42:51,356 --> 00:42:57,116 Speaker 1: you want to be. And anyway, this family of three men, 751 00:42:57,716 --> 00:43:01,996 Speaker 1: two little ones and one giant one played the game 752 00:43:02,076 --> 00:43:06,876 Speaker 1: every Sunday afternoon and left the game where it was 753 00:43:07,156 --> 00:43:09,636 Speaker 1: on the table until the next time, and the boys 754 00:43:09,676 --> 00:43:12,076 Speaker 1: came and then picked it up in the middle of 755 00:43:12,156 --> 00:43:22,676 Speaker 1: the game. And anyway, he's still holding my hand and 756 00:43:22,716 --> 00:43:26,156 Speaker 1: he looks me right in the eye again, and he said, 757 00:43:26,236 --> 00:43:34,676 Speaker 1: you say my boys, and then he turned around walked away. 758 00:43:38,116 --> 00:43:42,316 Speaker 3: Farming is cyclical, like the seasons. The Farming game turned 759 00:43:42,356 --> 00:43:45,716 Speaker 3: out to be countercyclical. Over the years, it became clear 760 00:43:45,796 --> 00:43:49,076 Speaker 3: that it sold best when times were worst. It's been 761 00:43:49,076 --> 00:43:52,436 Speaker 3: in print ever since nineteen seventy nine, and sales picked 762 00:43:52,516 --> 00:43:55,636 Speaker 3: up both during the financial crisis and the COVID pandemic. 763 00:43:56,636 --> 00:44:00,476 Speaker 3: That first crisis, though, the early nineteen eighties, is when 764 00:44:00,476 --> 00:44:03,636 Speaker 3: George's fate in the games diverged from the fate of 765 00:44:03,676 --> 00:44:06,996 Speaker 3: the American family farm. He'd been in lockstep with the 766 00:44:07,036 --> 00:44:10,556 Speaker 3: trends of the day, the Butt's agenda bigger, buying on credit, 767 00:44:10,756 --> 00:44:13,356 Speaker 3: planting fence road to fence row, and then watching it 768 00:44:13,396 --> 00:44:17,076 Speaker 3: all come apart. But the game saved the Roarbackers, even 769 00:44:17,156 --> 00:44:20,036 Speaker 3: while the farm crisis drove so many other small family 770 00:44:20,076 --> 00:44:23,356 Speaker 3: farmers off their land. At the start of the twentieth century, 771 00:44:23,836 --> 00:44:27,476 Speaker 3: nearly forty percent of Americans lived on farms. Today about 772 00:44:27,476 --> 00:44:31,276 Speaker 3: one percent due there are still family farms, just fewer 773 00:44:31,316 --> 00:44:34,996 Speaker 3: and mostly bigger. And in George, they had meant to 774 00:44:35,036 --> 00:44:39,156 Speaker 3: make a board game. They wound up writing a eulogy 775 00:44:40,036 --> 00:44:42,676 Speaker 3: late last winter. I spent a weekend with the Roarerbackers 776 00:44:42,676 --> 00:44:45,916 Speaker 3: in Colorado. They still owned the farm in Washington State, 777 00:44:46,236 --> 00:44:48,756 Speaker 3: but they live here now, in a little town in 778 00:44:48,796 --> 00:44:51,916 Speaker 3: the far southwest of the state, near a national forest. 779 00:44:52,156 --> 00:44:55,316 Speaker 3: We talked for hours and hours, but on the last 780 00:44:55,436 --> 00:44:59,636 Speaker 3: night there was one thing I had left to do. 781 00:45:02,396 --> 00:45:06,516 Speaker 3: We played the farming game me George and Laura, her 782 00:45:06,596 --> 00:45:08,556 Speaker 3: husband Tim, and her daughter Vivian. 783 00:45:09,516 --> 00:45:15,436 Speaker 6: I see hey, and set it up. 784 00:45:16,196 --> 00:45:19,796 Speaker 1: How my five thousand dollars a Yet everybody starts with 785 00:45:20,596 --> 00:45:23,356 Speaker 1: of course, Oh no, God. 786 00:45:23,596 --> 00:45:24,476 Speaker 6: That's ingenius. 787 00:45:25,756 --> 00:45:28,316 Speaker 4: Just wow, what a great idea. 788 00:45:28,676 --> 00:45:30,276 Speaker 6: We're gonna find out who admitted the game at the 789 00:45:30,316 --> 00:45:31,716 Speaker 6: end of this take. 790 00:45:31,636 --> 00:45:32,476 Speaker 1: Him out to the party. 791 00:45:34,516 --> 00:45:37,436 Speaker 3: We began to play I've never been a farmer, so 792 00:45:37,836 --> 00:45:40,756 Speaker 3: with each bumper crop or farmer's fate card, I was 793 00:45:40,836 --> 00:45:43,116 Speaker 3: learning some of the things George and Ann learned from 794 00:45:43,116 --> 00:45:46,916 Speaker 3: their neighbors that their neighbors had learned from their parents. George, 795 00:45:46,956 --> 00:45:49,316 Speaker 3: for his part, seemed to be learning some lessons for 796 00:45:49,356 --> 00:45:50,356 Speaker 3: the second or third time. 797 00:45:51,396 --> 00:45:55,396 Speaker 4: I noticed all you have leftis five hundred dollars. Yeah, 798 00:45:55,556 --> 00:45:57,476 Speaker 4: you're going to go bankrupt in the first ten minutes. 799 00:45:58,196 --> 00:46:01,556 Speaker 1: Well, I do have a reputation of either winning or going. 800 00:46:01,396 --> 00:46:05,116 Speaker 3: Brok and told me earlier that George either wins big 801 00:46:05,196 --> 00:46:07,796 Speaker 3: or loses big. That night he was out of the 802 00:46:07,796 --> 00:46:09,916 Speaker 3: game before he made it around the board twice. 803 00:46:10,796 --> 00:46:12,876 Speaker 4: Now here's where your situation is. 804 00:46:13,236 --> 00:46:16,556 Speaker 1: You're out of money. I got some troubles here, you 805 00:46:16,676 --> 00:46:17,156 Speaker 1: always said. 806 00:46:20,996 --> 00:46:23,836 Speaker 3: Watching George and Ann play together was like seeing the 807 00:46:23,836 --> 00:46:27,876 Speaker 3: whole story in miniature. The dreamer and the pragmatist two 808 00:46:27,916 --> 00:46:31,236 Speaker 3: ways of thinking about chance. You expect the best or 809 00:46:31,396 --> 00:46:34,396 Speaker 3: you prepare for the worst. I had come to their 810 00:46:34,436 --> 00:46:36,996 Speaker 3: story expecting it to be a story about the loss 811 00:46:36,996 --> 00:46:40,356 Speaker 3: of agricultural knowledge that used to be the most common 812 00:46:40,436 --> 00:46:43,396 Speaker 3: kind of common knowledge there was, and I'd thought when 813 00:46:43,436 --> 00:46:45,516 Speaker 3: I set out that the game was just a very 814 00:46:45,516 --> 00:46:48,716 Speaker 3: sweet way to share it again. But playing the game 815 00:46:48,756 --> 00:46:52,836 Speaker 3: that night, I was thinking about games and risks and 816 00:46:52,916 --> 00:46:57,436 Speaker 3: knowns none knowns. George says farmers have to be optimists, 817 00:46:57,956 --> 00:47:01,996 Speaker 3: otherwise they'd never plant a seed. The farming game is 818 00:47:01,996 --> 00:47:04,956 Speaker 3: a model of farming, but farming is a model of 819 00:47:04,956 --> 00:47:09,436 Speaker 3: life itself. Their good years and bad. You can pair, 820 00:47:09,596 --> 00:47:12,636 Speaker 3: but you can't control. You live in a world where 821 00:47:12,676 --> 00:47:15,436 Speaker 3: things grow if you care for them, and if you're 822 00:47:15,436 --> 00:47:18,116 Speaker 3: going to play games of chance. It's best to play 823 00:47:18,116 --> 00:47:22,076 Speaker 3: them with someone else. That way, you win even when 824 00:47:22,116 --> 00:47:22,516 Speaker 3: you lose. 825 00:47:23,876 --> 00:47:25,836 Speaker 4: I'm gonna buy some you can't. 826 00:47:26,276 --> 00:47:28,356 Speaker 8: Why, Oh, I'll see it. 827 00:47:29,476 --> 00:47:48,596 Speaker 9: I was gonna buy them less, but you are going okay. 828 00:47:54,356 --> 00:47:57,556 Speaker 2: This episode originally ran on The Last Archive, a podcast 829 00:47:57,556 --> 00:47:59,876 Speaker 2: about the history of truth. You can find a link 830 00:47:59,916 --> 00:48:02,796 Speaker 2: to listen to more Last Archive episodes in our show notes. 831 00:48:03,316 --> 00:48:06,636 Speaker 2: The episode was written by Ben Adaph Haffrey, who produced 832 00:48:06,676 --> 00:48:09,916 Speaker 2: it with Lucy Sullivan. It was edited by Sophie Crane 833 00:48:10,116 --> 00:48:14,316 Speaker 2: and Julia Barton and executive produced by Jillapoor, Sophie Crane 834 00:48:14,596 --> 00:48:18,556 Speaker 2: and Meila Belle, engineering by Jake Krsky, fact checking by 835 00:48:18,556 --> 00:48:22,796 Speaker 2: Amy Gaines, and original music by Matthias Bossi and John 836 00:48:22,836 --> 00:48:29,156 Speaker 2: Evans of stell Wagon Symfidet. Happy holidays everyone, I'm Malcolm Glauco.