I recently watched the 1984 classic The NeverEnding Story with my three-year-old son. Discussion of the age appropriateness of that movie and my questionable parenting aside, it was a fun little blast from the past. Also, the main plot of the film (the world being consumed by “The Nothing”) was particularly on point for the times we find ourselves in. Speaking of which, when is this pandemic going to end?! Next month will mark the two-year anniversary of the start of restrictions (travel bans, social distancing, mask wearing, etc.). Holy cow, do I ever miss playing in casual Friday Night Magic tournaments and going out for wings with some buddies on a Wednesday night. Not to say that I was a social butterfly in my pre-pandemic life, but there used to be something which has now definitively been replaced with The Nothing. Beyond the complete destruction of my social life, there have been some rather significant professional impacts as well. 

Easily the biggest effect of the pandemic for us here at TCG Machines has been the global supply chain crisis. Components which were once available on demand (mini-PCs, electric motors, etc.) have had their lead times balloon into multi-month figures. Back in August, 2021, I jokingly started growing out my “production beard” with the intent of not shaving until our first batch of machines was delivered. WELL IT’S NO LONGER A JOKE!

![2 headshots of Graeme. One with a well-trimmed beard and one that is out of control](https://tcgmachinesprod.azureedge.net/strapi/assets/beard_growth_648x486_d458316716.webp)

My wife is not happy with me, and rightfully so. We are expecting the birth of our second child at the end of this month, and my baby girl is going to enter this world not realizing her father has a chin. A chin, or a shred of remaining sanity. 

Luckily, there is now a light at the end of the tunnel, and from The Nothing emerges A Something! Fabricated components of the PhyzBatch-9000 card sorter have started to arrive, and we are finally building machines. Hopefully this will spell the end of working evenings and weekends and putting in 65-hour weeks. The irony of creating a machine to save people time and money, is that it takes an awful lot of time and money. The other, terrible truth of this project, is that I haven’t actually played a game of Magic cards in nearly two years. Who would have thought that pursing a career directly related to something you love would prevent you from doing that very thing. Sigh. Well, I am beginning to rant now, so let’s call this a blog post. How do I have time to write blog posts, you ask? I don’t. This is apparently what I do on a Friday evening. 

More production progress and software development-related posts coming soon! 

In spite of a global pandemic, supply chain crisis, staff shortages, disruptions to childcare, and other fun challenges, production of the PhyzBatch-9000 card sorting bot is underway!

Man riding a giant dog, massive stacks of cards, and a virus

small_the-never-ending-story_648x369.webp

thumbnail_the-never-ending-story_648x369.webp

the-never-ending-story_648x369.webp

The Never Ending Story

Two TCG Machines gears icon for Apple Touch

thumbnail_apple-touch-icon.png

apple-touch-icon.png

TCG Machines’ proprietary PhyzBatch-9000 recognizes and categorizes cards by nearly any metric, including card condition, type, and foil determination.