Interview with Jamal Blakkarly & Jacob Traeger on Diplomacy & faith

The guys interview Jacob and Jamal from the A Christian and Buddhist Walk into a Bar podcast as a cross over episode. Plus Gavin discusses WDC in Milan and more.

Intro

• The guys open the show and introduce their drinks and venue (0 mins 10 secs)
• Gavin has a cough but goes into his experience playing at the 2024 WDC in Milan (2 mins 40 secs)

Interview with Jamal Blakkarly and Jacob Traeger from the podcast A Buddhist and a Christian Walk into a Bar about Diplomacy and faith

• The guys start introducing the interview with Jamal and Jacob, co-hosts of the podcast A Buddhist and a Christian Walk into a Bar for a cross-over episode about Diplomacy and faith (9 mins)
• The interview begins as the four of them set up the nature of the episode for each of the podcasts' audiences (11 mins)
• Ken explains the game for the other podcast's audience (16 mins)
• They discuss the link between each of their religious and spiritual perspectives and Diplomacy (17 mins 30 secs)
• Gavin discusses Jamal's double stab on him during the Melbourne Open (22 mins 45 secs)
• They discuss the evolving nature of Diplomacy, its connection with your life and learning moments (25 mins)
• Gavin talks about inadvertantly injecting Diplomacy into the game of Monopolyn (41 mins)
• Jamal asks whether God likes Diplomacy (43 mins)
• The nature of the discussion turns towards Buddism and Diplomacy, and Jamal reflects on Catholicism in Italy (49 mins)
• Jacob asks about whether there's any place in the game of Diplomacy for some of the key aspects of the major religions (57 mins)
• Gavin reflects on the face to face nature of the game as a way of meeting great people and traveling to amazing locations (1 hr 5 mins)
• Just search Christian Buddhist bar on Google to find Jamal and  Jacob's podcast if you want to hear more of A Christian and a Buddhist Walk into a Bar (1 hr 11 mins)
• The guys reflect on the discussion with Jamal and Jacob (1 hr 12 mins)
• Gavin talks about how he enjoyed spending time travelling and visiting Diplomacy players during his trip, including Jamal, Bradley Grace, Chris Brand and John Avena (1 hr 16 mins 45 secs)
• He goes onto talk about WDC 2025 in San Francisco and WDC 2026 in Athens, with a shout out to Spyros, podcast listener and TD for WDC in Athens (1 hr 22 mins)
• Gavin discusses officially holding the Cane Toad Classic tournament in Brisbane the weekend of 24-25 August 2024. Register your interest at the Australian Diplomacy tournament form (1 hr 26 mins)
• They talk about a pre-game for the first weekend in August but since recording we've fallen short and won't be happening (1 hr 30 mins)
• The guys begin wrapping up the show, and Gavin does an extra Bradely Grace shout out on 3 words (1 hr 35 mins 15 secs)

Venue: Longwang, Brisbane

Drinks of choice:

Ken: Balter XPA from the Gold Coast, XXXX Bitter from Brisbane (during the interview)

Gavin: Balter XPA from the Gold Coast

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Thanks as always to Dr Dan aka "The General" for his rockin' intro tune.