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Even in the best of times, it’s never perfectly safe to travel. There are risks that are inherent to every trip you take — from the plane/bus/car/boat crashing to falling off a cliff while taking a selfie. But 2020 has added a new layer of risk to the travel equation: the COVID-19 pandemic. By the very act of leaving home, you’re opening the door to potentially spreading a disease that’s killing around three percent of the people who contract it. You could even do so asymptomatically.

There’s just no denying the increased risk (however slight) of spreading/contracting COVID for anyone who travels. But as with most risks, it is possible to mitigate these dangers.

On one end of the spectrum, of course, you could simply not travel in any way. If you don’t have to get on a plane right now, why are you? The world is bracing for second and third waves of the pandemic. Where do you really need to go? Do the people who live there want you to visit? Who might you be endangering? Though not traveling wouldn’t drop your overall coronavirus risk to zero, it would eliminate your risk of spreading or contracting coronavirus while away from home on a leisure trip.

A more moderate approach would be to listen to the advice of epidemiologists and public health experts with regards to road-tripping, hotel stays, or flying. In this scenario, you’d still follow the CDC Guidelines for travel during COVID. Especially this one:

Don’t travel if you are sick or if you have been around someone with COVID-19 in the past 14 days. Don’t travel with someone who is sick.

And this:

Is COVID-19 spreading at your destination? The more cases at your destination, the more likely you are to get infected during travel and spread the virus to others when you return.

Also, this:

Your chances of getting COVID-19 while traveling also depend on whether you and those around you take steps to protect yourself and others, such as wearing masks and staying 6 feet away from people outside your household (social distancing).

Between those two poles — not traveling and traveling moderately and sensibly (we’re not entertaining the other far end of the spectrum: traveling without any precautions or thought to the wellbeing of others) — there are endless shades of gray. And they’re not simple to navigate. To help us add context to the conversation, we reached out to professional travel writers, photographers, TV hosts, podcast hosts, and videographers. These are people who travel for a living and had to readjust their lives to manage the new risks of a world still very much in the throes of a pandemic. They’re people who think about travel every single day, because their actual livelihoods depend on it.

For this roundtable discussion, we tapped:

• Melanie Sutrathada — Travel, food, and style host, influencer, and writer.
• Brian McIntosh — Travel photographer and influencer.
• Alex Alex — Travel, food, and style host, writer, and influencer.
• Mike Schibel — Travel writer and podcaster.
• Kinga Phillipps — Travel TV host on Travel Channel, BBC, and Epix.
• Karl Watson — Travel writer and YouTube travel host

Check their answers below. Hopefully, their thoughts add helpful nuance to this issue as you navigate it for yourself.

Do you think it’s okay to travel before 2021?

Melanie:

The topic of travel is so complicated right now. It is different for everyone and is such a personal decision during these unprecedented times. I only recommend traveling by mode of public transportation like a plane, train, or bus if it’s absolutely essential. There are still so many unknowns and variables that we have to take into account and safety comes first. If traveling has taught me anything, it’s that we are more similar than different, so we owe it to one another to do what’s right. Going to Mexico on spring break with 20 friends is not acceptable during a global pandemic. We have to put the health of one another first. COVID-19 does not discriminate and until we see numbers decreasing significantly, it feels irresponsible to travel unnecessarily and put others at risk.

The exception for me would be carefully-planned road trips to National Parks or other destinations where you have very limited contact with others. I’ve seen a handful of people actively traveling for fun and without caution these past few months and it comes off as very tone-deaf and like they are not taking this global pandemic seriously. Let’s just say that I’ve hit the unfollow button more times than I’d like to admit.

Brian:

I definitely think it’s okay to travel before 2021. At this point, if you don’t know how to place a mask on your face, wash your hands or sanitize the surfaces you touch, then you are just being reckless. You can’t control what other people do around you to limit the spread, but you can definitely control what you do.

On my recent flights, I’ve noticed airlines trying their best to spread out customers — so that they are sitting beside the people they know. None of the planes that I’ve been on have been loaded to capacity, which was reassuring to see. I know with Air Canada, they issue care packages on every flight. These packages contain a mask, a bottle of sanitizer, a bottle of water, gloves, and a few other things. I’ve personally witnessed every passenger adhering to the rules when it comes to wearing their masks.

Putting airlines aside, I think if travelers avoid immersing themselves in city life and place more of an emphasis on connecting with nature (where you are naturally distanced from other people) or choosing Airbnbs over hotels, then we should have greater confidence in being able to live through this pandemic while trying to clamp down on this viral spread. Now, if you want to resume life as normal and party it up with everyone else on a beach or at a club, then I can’t say traveling will be safe for you (or the people around you) at any time before there’s an available vaccine.

Alex:

I personally will not be traveling for leisure before 2021. I think, at this moment, traveling for leisure should be considered very carefully, and weighing the risks should be everyone’s personal social responsibility.

I relocated to London from Helsinki about two weeks ago due to my partner’s work situation, a move that had been carefully planned for over a year and completely unavoidable as it seriously would have affected our livelihood. Otherwise, traveling for leisure will have to wait and all of our travel plans are officially canceled until further notice.

Mike:

I think it’s okay to travel. Where you travel, how you travel, and WHY you travel is the real question.

Kinga:

I do think it’s okay to travel, with precautions. As testing becomes widely available for all folks, for free, and results are coming back quickly — now it’s less than 24-hours; my first test in May was 13 days; oof — we can take the necessary steps to make sure we are protecting ourselves and others. We are also all pretty clear that masks limit the spread of COVID … we are all clear on this, right? So wearing a mask over your full-face (not the weird nose-exposed look I’ve seen people sporting) is a gesture of goodwill for those around us and ourselves as well.

As far as “where,” well, that depends on what locations are letting travelers in. I’m planning a trip to Tahiti. That will require me to take a test before I leave and one when I land. I am happy to do that to visit a whale-laden paradise! I also call ahead and ask hotels and adventure outfitters if they are being responsible. If I’m going diving, you bet your ass I’m going to call you to make sure your dive shop is being responsible, and you bet your ass I will leave if I see that you are not.

Karl:

Trying to answer this is a bit like when people ask you for advice about visas. It all depends on where you’re traveling from and where you’re traveling to. What are the infection levels like where you are? And what are they like where you’re going? Those questions have to be answered — first and foremost.

What precautions are you taking before you leave for any potential trip?

Melanie:

My precautions before leaving would definitely include getting tested at least seven-days prior and taking a Rapid Results test 24-hours before I travel. I would pack hand sanitizer with at least 60-percent alcohol, extra face masks, and disinfectant wipes. I would check the travel restrictions on the destination and plan accordingly, making sure to allow for the 14-day quarantine period many states are requiring. I would look into the airlines I was considering flying with and carefully review their safety precautions, opting for airlines that are blocking the purchase of a middle seat, and enforcing the requirement of a face mask that covers the nose and mouth.

I’ve heard horror stories of nearly full flights and passengers who refused to properly wear masks. I want to avoid the airlines who do not put the safety of their crews and passengers first.

Brian:

There isn’t any precaution that I’m taking that I haven’t been practicing on a daily basis. The main precaution is carrying a few masks with me so I can change them out when they become soiled. It’s important for me to have ones that are breathable so I’m not tempted to take them off. Breathable masks also make it easier for me to enunciate my words when I’m trying to speak to someone.

Alex:

This year, I am not traveling for leisure. We are currently living in London due to my partner’s job. We still have our second home-base in Helsinki, and it will be a carefully considered and well thought out plan should we decide to visit. At the moment, we have nothing on the books because safety comes first. However, should we need to visit our home-base for work purposes, we will do so taking every measure and precaution possible, including testing, self-isolation, and whatever else is necessary.

Mike:

I have not had the desire to fly for the sake of flying. If I had business or a family reason, I would fly. Prior to the road trips I took, I checked weather and fire conditions and also made sure I had plenty of supplies in case I got stuck somewhere away from home.

Kinga:

I do a COVID test before I leave. I also research and book flights and seats and activities that are not jam-packed, and I research the destination I am heading to — to make sure I am not landing in “COVID Central.” If I am, then I practice my side-eye to those being irresponsible.

Karl:

I live by myself and work from home. So as long as I’m following my local area’s standard guidelines of social distancing, wearing a mask, cleaning my hands, then I’m fine.

What precautions are you taking while on the road?

Melanie:

While on the road, I make sure to wash my hands often, use hand sanitizer whenever soap and water are not available, wear my face mask any time social-distancing is not possible, and wipe down all of the commonly-used surfaces with disinfectant wipes. Small details like not wiping down the gas pump could make all the difference and the more precautions we all take now, the better off we will be.

I also avoid common spaces like lounges and lobbies, minimizing interaction with strangers.

Brian:

I like to rent cars when I’m away, so I can better explore my destination. So I make sure to keep a bottle or two of hand sanitizer in the car whenever I want to snack on something while I’m driving. They also are needed to simply wipe down the steering wheel and other surfaces in case the rental company wasn’t on their A-game with cleaning!

And of course, I make sure to bring a mask in the car — in case I forget to bring one with me whenever I leave my accommodation.

Alex:

I would not suggest traveling at this time. But if it is unavoidable, then I highly suggest all who do to get tested first and foremost. Next, I would have a serious consideration concerning how important is this trip to my livelihood? Can it be postponed or moved to a later date, or could it be done virtually?

Mike:

Extra mask, water, snacks. Trying not to stop if I don’t have to — this has been really hard when I really want to visit a local ice cream shop on a hot day.

Kinga:

I wear a mask over my mouth AND nose the entire flight and bring enough sanitizer to flood a continent. I also recently did a road trip from L.A. to Houston and along the way booked hotels that advertised online as being responsible. Trust me when I say that parts of the Midwest (and elsewhere) are taking this quite lightly and some businesses — from hotels to restaurants to gas stations — are being very flippant about it. It’s totally okay to politely ask someone to give you space or to walk out of a restaurant that is not being cautious (I only do takeout unless it’s outside and super spaced out). We did. It’s your own health after all.

I also avoid crowded locations. No need to be in a restaurant or bar or at a party right now.

Karl:

The same as when I’m at home, just follow the local guidelines. And if I’m not sure what the local rules are, just behave how I would at home, which, come to think of it, is good generic travel advice anyway!

What precautions are you taking when you get home?

Melanie:

This is a question that we need to be talking about because the risk isn’t over when you get back. We pose a risk to our family, friends, and those in our communities when we get home from travel, especially if it’s from a place where the COVID-19 numbers are high. I would get a Rapid Results test immediately upon returning and then quarantine, just in case, while still wearing a face mask and maintaining social-distancing rules when it’s absolutely mandatory to leave the home.

Brian:

Thankfully, I don’t need to interact with many people when I am home. But the precautions are the same. I think if I continue to build this habit of wearing a mask, limiting the surfaces that I touch, and using sanitizer where water and soap are not available, then I’ll carry these good habits in every situation that I’m in. If I don’t have a mask on hand, then I definitely try to keep my distance from others.

Alex:

Anyone traveling in these times should be up to date on testing before and after travels, as well as self-isolating after arrival at their final location. Again, this highly depends on where one is traveling from and where they are traveling to. I can only comment on the Finnish perspective (I’m American/Finnish) since that is where I have been residing. Each country is different and we need to respect the safety measures that have been put in place to protect one another.

Mike:

I wash all my shit really well! Also, I share with others about the trip to inspire them and let them know it’s safe to travel — if you’re smart.

Kinga:

I wait for three days and take a COVID test. Until I do, I am cautious about where I go and who I interact with.

Karl:

I came back from a non-travel job in Switzerland last month, and the U.K. government’s rules were that I had to quarantine for 14 days, so I did just that. That’s pretty easy for me since I live by myself and can work from home. I’m fortunate in that sense.

What’s your plan if you get sick while traveling? What does sheltering in place look like on the road? How would you cover those costs?

Melanie:

I would 100 percent shelter-in-place and alert my host or the manager of the accommodations and discuss our options. I think people are afraid to admit that they are not feeling well and instead pretend that they are completely fine because they don’t want to miss out or be shamed for having COVID-19. But, we can’t be afraid to say that we are showing symptoms in fear that we won’t be able to do all the fun things that come with travel. We have a responsibility to one another. I don’t want to be the reason that someone else gets sick and if it comes to covering a hotel or Airbnb for two weeks out-of-pocket, it’s worth it for me.

Brian:

This is where having a good insurance plan comes into play. If I am hospitalized while I’m away, then my current plan covers most, to all of my expenses. I’ll have to check to see what the plan says about quarantining abroad though. If I’m not covered, then I’d be thankful for the nest egg that I’ve built to help me weather that unfortunate storm. But that’s only if the accommodation even allows me to enter the building. This is something I would have to further look into because I could be in a country that is very strict and deny me entry into any accommodation if they catch me with a fever or symptoms. And this could even be the case in my home country.

This is something every traveler should think about! A contingency plan is crucial.

Alex:

Right now, I am taking it one day at a time. When the restrictions loosen, there may be a possibility to plan a leisure trip in Spring 2021. But this all depends on the situation and what is safest and best, not just for my own safety/health but for others as well.

Mike:

I’ve been going on the strategy of only traveling five-hours from home and only by car. At least that’s what I’ve done so far. If I did get sick I would come home and quarantine. I have not thought about if I was on a trip and returning home was not an option. But I’ll have a plan in place when that time comes.

Kinga:

That’s really the catch! Say I go to Tahiti with a negative test before boarding the flight as required and upon landing take a test that is positive. That means I have to find a place to stay for 14 days. So the responsible thing to do is to make sure you have the time and the money to be able to do that.

Karl:

For a start, I wouldn’t leave my hotel room. Then I would get in touch with my travel insurance company and see what they advise. So I guess step one before all this is to make sure you have travel insurance that covers COVID-19 before you leave home.

What about getting people sick and you spreading the disease (especially, if you’re asymptomatic) while traveling?

Melanie:

This is something that I think about all the time. If I were to get someone sick and spread the disease while traveling, I don’t think I would be able to forgive myself. Over 200,000 Americans have passed away because of this disease. That’s not something I take lightly and I don’t think anyone else should either. I hear the excuse of, “I’m young! It won’t affect me!” and that is such a selfish way to look at this. Maybe you won’t get sick, but what if you are asymptomatic and spread the virus to the girl at the coffee counter at the hotel you’re staying at? The same person who is interacting with 100 different people in the course of a day, potentially infecting each of those travelers who then go to their homes and infect their loved ones? What if that same girl at the coffee counter goes home to her family and gets her mom and dad sick too? Every single person is someone’s sibling or child or friend.

So many people have lost parents or brothers or uncles or cousins, and I don’t want to be someone who puts the desire for fun before the safety of others.

Brian:

I would feel terrible knowing that I was the cause of spreading COVID-19 to people around me and even worse if it led to death. That’s why, when I take these precautions, I am always thinking about the “other” person and myself. If we all keep this attitude in mind, it’s hard for me to see the numbers climbing at the same rate they are now.

Alex:

I can only imagine the burden of any travel influencer who decides to hit the road and carries it with them. All my favorite destinations will still be there after all this blows over. I am definitely still researching and planning future fabulous trips but only prepared to go once the situation has gone in a better direction.

Mike:

That would suck. But what’s the difference between all the locals walking around in different cities in the world with some symptoms and NO mask? To answer this question: Be smart, mask up, wash your hands, and stay the f*ck away from others. Just be smart.

I get people are having FOMO and feel the need to go out, but is it worth it? Watch “Corba Kai” and chill the f*ck out.

Kinga:

There is always a risk, but I think that we can mitigate that enough with responsible actions to minimize the possibility. Testing regularly is really important because I know of several people who were asymptomatic.

Karl:

I wouldn’t travel to a place where infection rates are high or if there were some kind of lockdown restrictions. That would simply be irresponsible. I’m only willing to travel to and from regions/countries where the infection rates are low and so the risk is minimal. Of course, the rates are constantly changing, rules are changing, so any trip that I would potentially do, wouldn’t be booked until the last minute and after all the requisite research is done.

If you do get sick while traveling, what responsibilities are you willing to take? Would you consider not traveling again until there’s a vaccine (even if that meant finding another job)?

Melanie:

I would still be open to traveling. There is a risk every single time you leave your home and that shouldn’t stop you from living your life and finding joy in the things that light you up. It’s all about making smart choices and careful planning. Would I hop on a plane to Paris right now (if I was even allowed to)? Absolutely not. But I would take a weekend trip to somewhere new and go camping or exploring a National Park. I think travel is still possible. I’ve heard time and time again this year that 2020 is canceled. But I don’t think that has to be the case. We can still do things that make us happy.

Travel isn’t necessarily canceled. It will just look different than what we’re used to.

Brian:

If I get sick but then I am deemed safe to return to the public after the recommendation time frame, then I would definitely still continue to travel. Traveling is a part of my life and by me doing the responsible thing and quarantining myself would be me demonstrating the sacrifice of putting my travels on pause.

But I am not going to stop my travels if I am healthy and I’m not a risk to others.

Alex:

I don’t mind staying put for now. To all creators that find this time a threat to their career, I would say, “look at this as an opportunity to tap into your own true creativity.”

Most travel influencers — such as myself — have tons of unused content, photos, video clips, and plenty of stories to share. I think there is still a huge potential in turning this into an opportunity to connect with followers in new ways or maybe focusing on making more localized content until it’s safe to travel internationally again.

Mike:

I would take responsibility for my actions, but don’t have an answer with a resolution until I have a real-life situation of what to do if this happens. Fingers crossed I don’t have to figure this out.

Kinga:

Definitely, shelter in place is a must. I don’t think the extreme of not traveling again or finding another job is necessary IF extreme precautions are taken. I take these same precautions when I go to the grocery store and get gas too.

If someone came to you and said: “Fuck you for traveling, my mom died of COVID and you’re being reckless and selfish!” what would your response be?

Melanie:

That would be a very tough thing to hear. It’s also why I have been so incredibly cautious these past eight-plus months. I am a huge believer in leading by example and have not traveled, specifically to avoid confrontations like this. But, if this were to happen, the first thing I would do is try to be kind and listen. Getting defensive only makes things worse and often times we just need someone to take our frustrations out on or to vent to. Then I would let them know I am very sorry for their loss and explain that safety is a priority to me and I would let them know about the precautions I took during my travels.

I hope I would handle this type of confrontation with grace!

Brian:

Everyone is entitled to their opinions but they could also say I’m being reckless for grocery shopping. In fact, I’d be around more random people at a higher rate of frequency than I would be if I was traveling through an airport. The precautions that I take while flying are the same that I take while shopping so I’d let the person say their piece but life would go on.

Alex:

I only traveled locally in Finland this summer, and only in our own personal vehicle to not put anyone else at risk. I mainly stayed with my partner in cool summer cabins in the forests and lakesides in the middle of Finland. We could still enjoy the freedom of exploring nature around us and swimming in the lake while keeping a safe distance from others. Middle Finland is actually the perfect place to isolate and we found that very comforting and still fulfilling. On two occasions we stayed with friends (in groups under eight) and still in line with Finnish regulations in two different summer cottages on a big plot of land. That gave us some lovely travel feels without risking possible exposure to anyone outside the group.

Mike:

I’d say you have a very worthy point and I understand you’re upset and sad. I am as well, though, I am extremely safe when I do travel. I agree that some who are traveling have been reckless. I think what we can do is continue to encourage our friends, family, and community to be safe, wear a mask, wash your hands, social distance, and reduce being reckless by not being in large gatherings and only traveling if we really need too.

Kinga:

I actually know several people who have passed of COVID, including a 32-year-old. I’ve spent this pandemic being crazy proactive of my own parents and as responsible as I possibly can be to others. People have very strong opinions and a sliding scale of what is acceptable. Some people will say “fuck you” for leaving the house and not ordering groceries online. I’ve heard “fuck you” for going hiking even though I’m in a mask on an offbeat trail during the week.

In every situation in life, we have to operate from our own moral compass of doing the best for ourselves and others and educate ourselves to the best of our ability about the situation. Lavender oil and crystals charged by moonlight aren’t gonna help you here, but masks, sanitizer, social distancing, and tests are.

If I am doing my utmost to be responsible, then I can live with my choice. If I am at a spring break party doing shots off someone’s nether regions, then I’m a selfish asshole and that person has every right to tell me to “fuck off.”

I have “fuck you” on the tip of my tongue when I go to my own beach and I see dance parties and drum circles happening sans masks or social distance.

Karl:

This is the kind of comment you may expect to see online, and the online world doesn’t deal in nuance. If I had been traveling to/from an area with high infection rates, ignoring the guidelines, and spreading misinformation, then yes, I am being “reckless and selfish.”

However, if I had been traveling responsibly, following the rules, then this comment wouldn’t apply to me.

Everyone is tired and frustrated and wants this situation to be over. But unfortunately, it isn’t just going to magically go away. So we have to find a way to learn to live with it. Proper testing and tracing systems would certainly solve a lot of this.

But until then, it all comes back to where you’re from and where you’re going.

The Boston Celtics had a disappointing end to their postseason run in Orlando when they were stunned by the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, ending the chance for what could have been the latest chapter in a Lakers-Celtics rivalry that has been going almost since the birth of the NBA.

For many of the players on this Celtics squad, it’s simply allowed them to shift focus to some of the equal justice initiatives that were born out of the work stoppage during the opening round of the playoffs, namely the massive 10-year, multi-million-dollar program spearheaded by Jaylen Brown designed to focus on education reform and other social justice causes in the Boston area.

For Marcus Smart, it’s given him an opportunity to speak out on something more personal. In a piece for the Players’ Tribune this week, the Celtics guard opened up about an incident he had with a fan outside of TD Garden after a game. Smart was trying to help a woman and her young son safely cross a street through traffic, when the woman started hurling racial epithets at him.

Via The Players’ Tribune:

She swung her head around and it was….“F*** you, you f***ing n-word!!!!” And in an instant, just like that, I was made to feel less than human. I wasn’t a person to this woman. I was a form of entertainment. Nothing more. And, believe me, it took every ounce of restraint in my body not to curse her out. A few seconds later, I drove off. I just wanted it to be over.

Beyond the obvious pain and heartbreak of the situation, Smart says he was most affected by the fact this mother spewed this type of hatred toward someone like that in front of her small child and the long-term effects that parents have on future generations by virtue of their behavior and their words.

Still, Smart remains hopeful about what he’s seen throughout the protests and the marches this year, as he and the Celtics organization continue their efforts to affect change via their money and their influence.

(Players’ Tribune)

Board games are often assembled from the mechanics of games that have come before them. Certain rules and quirks remain because they’ve been proven to work, and gamers can intuit how those elements will impact a new game they’re learning based on how it’s worked in others. What makes them different is the packaging and context through which the game is built. The best ones take those elements and elevate them to something bigger, making you forget that you’ve used these tools playing other games in similar ways.

Strike is a game that adheres to the traditions of cooperative board games, but with a quirk: solidarity. In explaining the game to my comrades I often found myself comparing it to co-op games like Pandemic, explaining the drone mechanics like an outbreak. The four actions you can use is a tried and tested co-op gaming mechanic, so leaning on what you already know works here.

But Strike is also an attempt to make something new while providing the building blocks for a better understanding of the labor movement itself. And with any game that’s made with education in mind, it’s often hard to find the balance between adhering to the subject matter and making a seamless, always-fun experience for players.

Strike is billed as a “game of worker rebellion,” and as players working against a robot-armed corporate monolith, your goal is to move workers around the board in large enough numbers to “strike,” organizing labor while disarming robots meant to put down any uprisings. The city is split into 12 different districts, and eight possible characters start at different spots on the map and have unique abilities that help them recruit strikers, move them around the board or disassemble the drones and megabots that enter districts at the end of every turn.

Winning the game means reaching 15 victory points before those robots: workers get victory points for organizing strikes, while HappyCorp gets points for turning robots into megabots, which fuse after three are in the same district. It’s a game that walks the Pandemic-like line of accomplishing a goal while limiting the damage from a threat that also impacts your ability to reach that goal.

It’s an effective mechanism familiar to people who like board games, but much of Strike‘s appeal is in the world-building. It frames massive tech companies not as convenient saviors, but harmful monoliths that infringe on your rights and control your actions. The bad news at the end of each round is called a Commercial Break, and the cards cheerfully make your life significantly worse in various ways: more robots on the board, limiting your number of moves on your next turn or lowering your overall energy. That energy is used to unlock bonus abilities only each character has, and there’s a significant strategy to deciding which abilities are useful and who to provide with energy while organizing what choices to make.

Cooperative games can always slip into familiar problems of an “alpha” gamer making decisions for everyone, but Strike seems designed to unlearn that and genuinely have players work together. There are a lot of ways to win using a variety of abilities to move around the board, but no one can truly finish the job alone. It’s a game that advocates for action to its core, and that includes encouraging more reluctant players to take part in the strategy and use their unique skills each turn.

It’s faithful accuracy to the subject matter, though, is what can make the game turn into a slog on higher difficulties. That’s kind of the point: labor battles are time-consuming, and the odds are stacked heavily against individuals. Change takes time, hard work, and careful planning. What I truly enjoyed about Strike is that the work felt worthwhile and that progress —gradual as it may be — did feel like it was building toward something.

Two or three players makes Strike a fairly manageable experience and keeps players almost always involved. Playing with four, however, was a different experience that offered far less control of the game’s movement. It also didn’t help that one session started on a much higher difficulty level, which meant we played the entire game from behind and turned it into a certifiable grind. Taking away that intense starting difficulty led to more enjoyable games overall, but the challenge of a game like Strike seems to be fighting through that grind for incremental improvements against increasingly difficult opposition.

That’s not always the case in cooperative board games like this. Sometimes it just feels like you’re drowning or simply trying to run out the clock. Strike is a game that, as you move people around the board and work together to organize strikes, feels like you’re creating something while staving off the forces that are attempting to prevent just that. For some, that may be a bit too on the nose for life in the present moment. But a board game that actually appreciates the labor behind moments is certainly an accomplishment, especially when it makes beating back a mega corporation feel like one, too.

If nothing below suits your sensibilities, check out our guide to What You Should Watch On Streaming Right Now.

Welcome To The Blumhouse (Amazon Prime films) — Blumhouse rarely swings and misses, so this is promising news when big Halloween gatherings won’t be such a good idea in 2020. Stay safe everyone, and pop some popcorn for a quadruple feature for these movies that landed this month.

– Evil Eye — What looks like a perfect romance transforms into a nightmare when a mom believes that a dark connection is influencing her daughter’s boyfriend.

– Nocturne — An elite arts academy becomes ground central for a disturbing sibling rivalry, in which one sister becomes unnaturally inspired by a dead classmate’s notebook.

– The Lie — Joey King stars as a teenage daughter who confesses to killing her best friend. This, naturally, results in even more lies and deception.

– Black Box — Phylicia Rashad and Mamoudou Athie star in this story about a single father involved in a tragic car accident agrees to an experimental treatment that results in a terrifying identity crisis.

Swamp Thing (CW, 8:00pm EST) — Munson’s body is resurrected by bugs while Alex has suspicions about the identity of Swamp Thing.

Tell Me a Story (CW, 9:00pm EST) — Ashley’s struggling in a new situation while Beau has his own struggles but also wants to support Ashley. And Maddie’s having second thoughts about her marriage.

Kal Penn Approves This Message (Freeform, 10:30pm EST) — Actor turned Obama administration member turned actor Kal Penn (House, the Harold and Kumar trilogy) is here to celebrate the changes that young voters can make. This promises to be a non-partisan approach with comedic sketches and in-depth interviews that will help Gen Z be even more impactful than they already are. This week, Kal tackles the climate crisis with help from young Americans.

Late Show With Stephen Colbert — Dolly Parton, Dolla $ign

Jimmy Kimmel Live — Michael Keaton, Blackpink

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon — Natalie Portman, Billy Porter, Lous and The Yakuza

Late Night With Seth Meyers — Adam Sandler, Jason Alexander

Matthew McConaughey’s memoir, Greenlights, was published today, In it, he writes about his dad dying while having sex with his mom, turning down $14.5 million for a romantic comedy, and floating down the Amazon River because he was feeling “guilt-ridden over sins of my past, lonely, and disgusted with the company I was keeping, my own.” Greenlights is a must-have for the chest-thumping, Ladies of Tampa-loving, guy-losing McConaughey fan in your life, although I’d go a step further. The chapter where the Oscar-winning actor sets the record straight about his run-in with the cops while he was playing the bongos naked should be required reading for every American.

McConaughey was arrested “on suspicion of possession of marijuana, possession of drug paraphernalia, and resisting transportation” on October 25, 1999, after police in Austin, Texas, found him “dancing naked and playing the bongo drums” in his own home, the Associated Press reported at the time. (I had yet to see a movie with McConaughey in it, but even I remember hearing about this story at middle school.) As McConaughey tells it in his book: “[I] just wanted to smoke a bowl and listen to the beautiful African melodic beats of Henri Dikongué play through my home speakers… It was time for a jam session. What I didn’t know was that while I was banging away in my bliss, two Austin policemen also thought it was time to barge into my house unannounced, wrestle me to the ground with nightsticks, handcuff me, and pin me to the floor.”

He describes the moment the police told him he was “under arrest for disturbing the peace, possession of marijuana and resisting arrest” to which McConaughey responded, “Fuck you, motherfucker! You broke in my house! Fuck, yeah, I resisted!” He refused to cover himself as a way to prove that he was minding his own business. “Before I’d taken three steps up the wall, the Cornhusker body-slammed me back down onto the brick footpath,” he recalls, adding that while being arrested, he saw “six lit-up cop cars and about 40 of my neighbors.”

Within two days of his arrest (he paid a $50 fine), McConaughey saw “BONGO NAKED” shirts all over Austin. As a current resident of Austin, I have one thing to say: I’ll take six of those shirts.

(Via the Hollywood Reporter)

As Disney+ began laying the groundwork for its debut in 2019, promises of a sequel series to the 1988 fantasy adventure film Willow were kicked about, and now, that day has finally come. Disney+ has officially confirmed that the series is a go for the streaming platform with original Willow director Ron Howard serving as executive producer and Warwick Davis reprising the title role of Willow Ufgood. Crazy Rich Asians director John M. Chu will direct the pilot, and he’s especially stoked to dive into the world of the classic film that he loved as child. Via Variety:

“Growing up in the’80s, ‘Willow’ has had a profound effect on me,” said Chu in a statement. “The story of the bravest heroes in the least likely places allowed me, an Asian-American kid growing up in a Chinese restaurant looking to go to Hollywood, to believe in the power of our own will, determination and of course, inner magic. So the fact that I get to work with my heroes from Kathleen Kennedy to Ron Howard is bigger than a dream come-true. It’s a bucket-list moment for me. Jon Kasdan and Wendy Mericle have added such groundbreaking new characters and delightful surprises to this timeless story that I can’t wait for the world to come along on this epic journey with us.”

Based on Variety‘s reporting, the Willow series seems to be lining up with the description Howard gave to the Happy Sad Confused podcast from May 2019. “I think it’d be a great way to go,” Howard said. “In fact, George always talked about the possibility of a Willow series, and it’d be great and more intimate, and built around that character and some of the others. And Jon Kasdan has, I think, an inspired take on it and it could be really, really cool.”

As Star Wars fans now know, a similar approach was taken for The Mandalorian, which launched later that year, and I think we all know how that turned out: Awesome.

(Via Variety)

Jordan Fisher knows where the future is heading, it’s just taken a different path than maybe we all expected this year. Twitch streams were hugely popular long before a pandemic kept everyone inside a lot more than they’d have liked. But life in quarantine has made streaming more popular than ever, and it’s also changed what people want to see played in some ways.

Among Us, for example, is a surprise hit two years in the making, proof that you never quite know what games will make it big and how audiences will grow. What will be big, though, is the technology that fuels those Twitch streams and the way we live our modern lives. Which perhaps is why Fisher — an actor with a dedicated Twitch following and a lifelong love of gaming — was perfect to help Verizon launch its 5G campaign earlier this month.

When Uproxx spoke to Fisher, he was in “an undisclosed location” filming a movie he’s producing. But the To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You actor and streamer is also big into gaming, and talked to us about what games he wishes got more run on Twitch, how he balances his serious gaming with relaxation and what he wishes more people would watch on Twitch so he could play it more often.

Uproxx: You’re a big gamer and I know that’s taken up a lot of your time during the pandemic, but what else have you been up to these days?

Jordan Fisher: Well, a lot. I’m executive producing a film and starring in it, so that is 90 percent of my days. Just production meetings and being on set, writing, doing the thing. Going over shot lists, et cetera et cetera. Other than that, I’m streaming a lot and going over a few other projects and wrapping up wedding planning. Just kind of little bit of everything. I’m kind of like chicken with my head cut off at the moment but I am happy. That’s probably the most important thing.

Basically everything you said there has had the level of difficulty ramped up these days due to the pandemic, especially with a wedding and filming. How stressful has that been for you? Any advice on how to juggle things in times like these?

Stressful is an interesting kind of term because there’s so much of everything that’s out of our control and I think the just relinquishing as much control and power as possible, letting it be what it is and understanding the everyone is trying to do their job.

We’re fortunate to be able to get married at this time, regardless. We’re fortunate to work at this time, to film at this time. Yeah, there are all kinds of things and precautions that are not a part of our muscle memory with our day-to-day lives, and how we function and our work. It doesn’t really matter what we do, if you work in an office or on a set or a construction site, whatever the case may be, there’s a lot of muscle memory that comes into play that has to be tamed. You have to figure out how to function in a new way but at the end of the day we’re fortunate that we get to continue to work and make a living. It’s all very important to remember and I count my blessings every day.

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/757964392?filter=archives&sort=time&t=3h37m0s

With all that’s going on, do you find gaming and streaming to actually relaxing or is it just more work? I know I cover gaming for a living and sometimes struggle to see it as something that is the leisure activity it’s supposed to be for most.

Yes and no. Funny, I was just talking to somebody about that. It was always important to me, especially because I’ve been gaming for close to three decades now, this is my lifeblood. Gaming has always been my first language, whether I’m playing at a super high level competitively or if I’m just chilling with some friends and having some good conversation sipping some beers over Discord and hanging, having a good time. Gaming has always been the thing that’s been my alternate universe. For you, I’m sure you can say the same thing. It’s, to an extent, the thing that should be able to take you away from your real life and be a separation from work.

But when you are one of the two of us, for example, that work in the gaming industry, it’s really easy for it to feel like work. One thousand percent there have been times where I’m like ‘I don’t want to play this game today, I don’t want to be entertaining and get on camera today. I don’t feel like chatting, I don’t feel like blah blah blah.’ But you do it, because you have to do it. And oftentimes I feel, to be honest with you, I often find that the days where I’m not in the mood to stream, when I’m not in the mood to play comp on Valorant, all of these things: it ends up becoming a really good session. It ends up becoming a really great stream. Something happens in there and I kind of relinquish that control.

So it was really important to me and those really close to me, my family, my fiancé, my super close friends as I found myself further thrust into the gaming space on an entertainment level, that it didn’t feel like work. So I could continue to have that as an escape. And I’ve always worked really hard to make that stay the same. And I think I’ve found, probably over the course of COVID more so, is taking time to game with friends off stream. And play and hang off stream. That’s what’s really kept my love for video gaming as fervent as it is, taking that time to just be a gamer and play games.

For sure. And you can see on Twitch when trends pop up with certain games, people almost feel obligated to play titles that are popular just to attract eyeballs.

A thousand percent.

Is there a game maybe that you’re not playing on Twitch that is keeping you sane this year? Something maybe people aren’t paying as much attention to as you wish they would?

Yeah, there are probably a few. The mainstays right now, especially with it being Halloween time, it’s like clockwork every year there’s a new spooky party games that come around each year. I’m loving Phasmophobia at the moment. Obviously Among Us is the new big thing. But to be perfectly honest with you the game that I wish was more popular, the game I wish more people cared about in terms of watching it so that it was more successful on the streaming side of things is Overwatch.

Overwatch is, I just love it. I came in super late, I started playing it only last summer and I went on a bit of a grind. My community got to watch me go from placing in Gold my first round of placements to becoming a GM in DPS. To be able to go on that journey and watch that happen, watch me grow as a gamer and also to see me fall deeper and deeper in love with it has been a lot of fun. We’ll see with Overwatch 2. I know (Blizzard vice president) Jeff (Kaplan) wants to make it a little more viewable, a bit more watchable. Every studio and game developer knows very well now for the life of the game these days it has to be playable on YouTube, watchable on streams. We’ll see how they deconstruct and reconstruct Overwatch 2 and hopefully it becomes one of those Fortnite, Modern Warfare, League of Legends-type titans in the industry. It would make me very happy.

Oh, and World of Warcraft.

Obviously you have a deep connection to gaming and working with Verizon explaining how 5G works is something that isn’t much of a stretch for you. It must be nice to work with a company like this that’s tied directly to a passion of yours.

And actually cares about it? Yeah, 100 percent. Working with a company that actually, genuinely cares about gaming and gamers and understands the necessity for download and upload speed? One thousand percent. It’s one of those partnerships that just makes sense and I think you get to a point to where you start to be a little picky and choosey about who you align yourself with.

For me, any kind of partnership I take on I want to be fully and entirely authentic. I want it to really make sense and be a partnership I can actually be excited about and talk about with excitement. And this is that. I’m an absolute nerd, I love advancements in technology. I’m wired into, tapped into all of those different outlets and I want to see speeds be faster. I want to see things be more streamlined. I want to see, you know, hardware be sleeker and more sexy and all of these things.

And Verizon’s really doing that with data here. This is true 5G. Instantaneous access to things and especially for me, who travels a lot, to be able to get that kind of coverage and accessibility whether I’m on an airplane or train or boat or automobile, I want instant access to things I need whether they be for work or for pleasure. And I think that everybody wants it, even if you don’t know that you do.

It’s incredible what our phones are able to do and make happen through science. But we’re also only humans and we’re selfish and we want things to be faster than the day before and Verizon has raised the bar constantly in that. They really raised the bar with 3G and made it what it was, 4G LTE as well and 5G is going to be a massive game-changer and I’m excited to be one of the faces that helps spread the good news, if you will.

When you picture a ballerina, you may not picture someone who looks like Lizzy Howell. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t.

Howell is busting stereotypes and challenging people’s ideas of what a dancer should look like just by being herself and doing her thing in her own body. The now-19-year-old from Delaware has been dancing since she was five and has performed in venues around the world, including Eurovision 2019. She has won scholarships and trains up to four hours a day to perfect her skills in various styles of dance.

Jordan Matter Photography shared a documentary video about Howell on Facebook—part of his “Unstoppable” series—that has inspired thousands. In it, we get to see Howell’s impressive moves and clear love of the art form. Howell shares parts of her life story, including the loss of her mother in a car accident when she was little and how she was raised by a supportive aunt who helped her pursue her dance ambitions. She also explained how she’s had to deal with hate comments and bullying from people who judge her based on her appearance.

“I don’t think it’s right for people to judge off of one thing,” Howell says in the video. And she’s right—her size is just one thing.

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Howell shares that she’s been bullied in dance since she was six, and how it still happens when she goes to dance conventions. She sees people staring at her and whispering about her, but she says the successes she’s had in dance and reassurances from other people keep her going.

“Most dancers are skinny, and I’m not,” Howell says. “I think a lot of people can relate to me in that sort of way. They see me as an inspiration because I’ve been told I’ve been told to quit dance multiple times and I haven’t.”

“Dance is what I love and it’s everything to me,” she says. “So I think that just keeps me going.”

Howell also has a message for people who might be tempted to say unkind things: “Whatever you say on social media is going to be seen by somebody and it could hurt their feelings. You know, you can’t just say something that you think is funny but it might affect somebody else’s feelings. I’m a very sensitive person, so I take everything to heart. There’s a bunch of people that are like me that take it the same way.”

Howell says dance is like therapy for her, which makes it all the worse for people to use her body size as a dancer as an excuse to be jerks. It might be surprising to see someone with Howell’s body type doing the kind of dance she does, but anyone who comments negatively on a person’s body—especially a young person has worked hard to train their body to create art—is a first-rate a-hole.

A few years have passed since Howell was interviewed for the “Unstoppable” video, and she’s still showing that she truly is unstoppable. She now has more than 200,000 followers on Instagram and regularly posts videos of her dancing in the studio.

Thank you for showing us what bucking the status quo looks like, Lizzy. Keep being bold, dancing beautifully, and showing the haters you won’t let them stop you.

Teyana Taylor shared her ambitious 23-track record The Album back in June. To further flesh out her songs’ concepts, the singer took on the role of video director and assumed the moniker Spike Tey. So far, Taylor has shared a handful of visuals, her sultry “Concrete” video being the latest. Now for her “Lose Each Other” video, Taylor was able to tap the legendary Elton John to lend a hand.

Directed by Taylor herself, the video opens with John sitting stoically behind the piano. Taylor adopts a handful of styles to illuminate the song’s meaning and calls upon two graceful dancers to move in unison to her soaring vocals.

In a statement about working with John, Taylor said, “‘Lose Each Other’ is such a special record for me, and I wanted the visual to feel just as big. I told my team ‘you know what would be dope? If I could have Elton John open the video on the piano!!’ […] Not that I thought it could really happen, but just putting it out there in the universe. So as we were working through treatment ideas and solidifying logistics for the video, an international phone number calls me…. and for a second I almost didn’t answer, but my intuition spoke, I answered. All I hear is…’Hello darling, it’s Elton. I’d LOVE to do your video!’ I FREAKED OUT!”

Echoing Taylor’s statement, John said, “When Teyana Taylor released her debut album, I became a huge fan. She was a guest on my Rocket Hour and I fell in love with her original spirit. Aside from her brilliant music, Teyana is one of the most visually dazzling artists working in music today. So I jumped at the chance to be in her latest video ‘Lose Each Other.’”

Speaking about her experience filming the visual, Taylor added, “As a director I wanted the imagery to be simple, yet powerful, which is why I choose an all-white background and bold looks. I wanted my audience to understand how love’s hardships can also be beautiful.

Watch Taylor and John’s “Lose Each Other” video above.

The Album is out now via Def Jam. Get it here.

As far as independent rappers go, Brooklyn’s Kota The Friend has been having a decent year, all things considered. His May album Everything was well-received, thanks to features from Bas, Kyle, Joey Badass, and Tobi Lou, while his “Trade Places With Them Jeans” freestyle with Guapdad 4000 capped off the latter’s Falcon Fridays series and helped raise both raise their respective profiles among fans with way more time for music discovery on their hands due to the economic shutdown caused by COVID0-19. Kota also celebrated an improved credit score; it may seem simple, but for a rapper working without the backing of a major label, it means a lot.

But time marches on and it’s apparently time for Kota to get right back to work. To that end, he’s returned to releasing music shortly after his 27th birthday with the release of “Dragon,” a spirited single in the same vein as his Lyrics To Go projects. Over a mellow beat, Kota imagines giving advice to his younger self, saying, “If I could go back, I would say to him / ‘Just focus on your spirit and you’ll make it, kid / And do right by the women that you make it with.’”

Kota didn’t say whether “Dragon” would be part of a larger release but he rarely does anything without a plan, so it’s probably a safe bet that more new music is on the way.

Listen to “Dragon” above.