board games
games
gaming
A Life in Games
I have been musing lately about why it is I enjoy games so much. The simple answer is that games were always a big part of my life. But more than that, it was a connection and expression of love to buy them, play them, and share them among people close to me.
We gamed as a family from my earliest memories. We would have a family game night periodically and sit around the dining table playing cards. My Dad would always play board games with us when Mom was off doing Mom stuff. Risk, Monopoly, Life, Chinese Checkers, and other standards abounded there. My Mom would buy a new board game every year at Thanksgiving, and we would learn it and play it over pie and tea after dinner--typically party and trivia games, like Balderdash, Pictionary, Scattergories, Crack the Case, and the ubiquitous Trivial Pursuit. She would also teach us Pass the Pigs, Waterworks, and Pit. Both my parents had regular cribbage nights with my old auntie and uncle, and they taught us patiently at their knee when we were little. My older brothers and sister would play all kinds of games with me, like Sorry!, Trouble, Clue, Connect Four, Mastermind, Stratego, and Scrabble. My grandparents taught us other classics, like checkers and chess, and on trailer camping trips would play "new classics" with us in the evenings like Uno and Skip-Bo. With friends when I was little, of course Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Operation, and High Ho Cherry-O loom large in my mind. As a teen it was hosting Murder Mystery parties, and endless Yahtzee with my bestie.
There was also an entire world of video games and computer games throughout my young life, which my Dad got my brother Brian and I into. We had Pong (yes, not when it was retro), Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Nintendo, and later Sega Gensis and Super Nintendo. We had the latest computers in the house as well because my father ran a computer consulting business as a side hobby to being a commercial airline pilot. He flew around the world, including a regular route to Hong Kong which exposed him to some of the latest technologies coming out of Asia at the time: Apple IIc (I still have Dad's, signed by Steve Wozniak), TI-99 (Alpiner, anyone?), Commodore 64, and on through PC evolution and all the games that came with it (Zork! Lode Runner! Wishbringer! Leisure Suit Larry!).
As a college student working on my own collection, I played a lot of party games like Catch Phrase, Taboo, Apples to Apples, and Cranium; or would rock some geeky RPG games like HeroQuest or actual pen n' paper D&D and its offshoots. I had my Super Nintendo in my room--pre-internet, kids--and would gather groups of friends for play sessions (sometimes instead of going to class. Ooops!) In my years in the SCA there was a lot of historical games, among which fox & geese, mancala, and *ahem* Toblero stand out.
There was a long dry spell of board gaming in there, wherein I married a shy man who didn't like the social games as much as I did. He would buy me games, but most were for 3+ players and he rarely wanted to invite people over to play them. There weren’t a ton of two-player games on the market either of us would be madly in love with. We did end up playing a lot of PC and console games, though. He was the one who introduced me to UO, my first MMORPG experience. We played lots of Playstation games and other co-op and P2P games like Diablo, Gauntlet, and Unreal Tournament. But since we also enjoy a shared love of television and movies as our preferred entertainment, it was a lot of screen-time. I was getting really restless and unhappy.
I tried to institute a “screen-free” night a few times, but it never stuck because we were at a loss as to what to do together at home outside of house work or hobbies we didn’t share. For instance I could knit, then what would he be doing? One of his main hobbies is building computers, which would necessitate another screen so that was out. We would go for long walks with the dogs in warmer months, but that didn’t work when the rains came. I liked biking a lot, but he didn’t fall for it the way I did. We went out to a lot of dinners, but that ended up costing money we didn’t want to be spending. It was confounding!
Only recently have I had a chance to re-discover board games thanks to a board gaming revolution that has been taking place in the new millennium right under my nose. A world of themes, mechanics, artwork, and experiences that weren’t around when I was younger. The idea of a co-operative board game was fairly foreign until recently--you had to have a third player be a DM/GM at least, which meant a 3-player minimum on some of my favorite role playing or strategic games. Not so today with cooperative games like Pandemic (and the episodic Pandemic LEGACY!), Flash Point: Fire Rescue, Dead of Winter, Elder Sign, and Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert. The craft of gaming has improved exponentially, with the gorgeous gaming experiences in Patchwork, Lanterns, Mysterium, and Dixit. This era has introduced concepts perfect for both new gamers and veterans alike, such as Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Camel Up, and 7 Wonders. Eurogaming brings in themes and mechanics previously unexplored--you can live whole lives through a game. The range of these game themes reach back into the past, like in Agricola; and into an imagined new age, as with Android: Netrunner and Galaxy Trucker.
Since discovering the panoply of options before me, my game collection has grown. Better yet, my husband’s voracious appetite is matching my own! We had to rearrange our living room recently to make room for a new table for gaming, and rework the book shelves to replace books and tchotchkes with game boxes. Our time at home together is no longer dominated entirely by screen time (TV/movies, or television or desktop gaming), but instead may include a debate about which game to set up...and which game we want to play after that.
This week was an incredibly trying week for reasons I won’t bore you with here. But suffice to say, by the end of a terrible week and weekend, we were emotionally and physically drained. A lot of Bad Shit went down, we had to cancel social plans with people we love and miss due to adulting, the sunny day was waning and we just wanted to hibernate. What did we do? We took a couple beers onto our back deck with some games, and in no time we were smiling and laughing. Gaming was a welcome respite and mental distraction from the terrible week, and a way to connect with one another, face to face, playing together. Not looking at a screen. Looking at each other. Sharing in something joyful.
It was a long time coming back around to the game-filled life I remember loving as a child. Gaming with another person or group of people is an act of connection, engagement, being present, challenge, exploration, and laughter. I am enthusiastic about sharing games with others because it makes me feel closer to those around me, even people I don’t know very well. In musing about it all I realize that for me, thanks to a lifetime of amazing people and making memories together around a console or table, gaming has always been synonymous with love.
We gamed as a family from my earliest memories. We would have a family game night periodically and sit around the dining table playing cards. My Dad would always play board games with us when Mom was off doing Mom stuff. Risk, Monopoly, Life, Chinese Checkers, and other standards abounded there. My Mom would buy a new board game every year at Thanksgiving, and we would learn it and play it over pie and tea after dinner--typically party and trivia games, like Balderdash, Pictionary, Scattergories, Crack the Case, and the ubiquitous Trivial Pursuit. She would also teach us Pass the Pigs, Waterworks, and Pit. Both my parents had regular cribbage nights with my old auntie and uncle, and they taught us patiently at their knee when we were little. My older brothers and sister would play all kinds of games with me, like Sorry!, Trouble, Clue, Connect Four, Mastermind, Stratego, and Scrabble. My grandparents taught us other classics, like checkers and chess, and on trailer camping trips would play "new classics" with us in the evenings like Uno and Skip-Bo. With friends when I was little, of course Candyland, Chutes & Ladders, Operation, and High Ho Cherry-O loom large in my mind. As a teen it was hosting Murder Mystery parties, and endless Yahtzee with my bestie.
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| A little Pandemic action while on a snowy cabin weekend getaway. |
There was also an entire world of video games and computer games throughout my young life, which my Dad got my brother Brian and I into. We had Pong (yes, not when it was retro), Atari 2600, ColecoVision, Nintendo, and later Sega Gensis and Super Nintendo. We had the latest computers in the house as well because my father ran a computer consulting business as a side hobby to being a commercial airline pilot. He flew around the world, including a regular route to Hong Kong which exposed him to some of the latest technologies coming out of Asia at the time: Apple IIc (I still have Dad's, signed by Steve Wozniak), TI-99 (Alpiner, anyone?), Commodore 64, and on through PC evolution and all the games that came with it (Zork! Lode Runner! Wishbringer! Leisure Suit Larry!).
As a college student working on my own collection, I played a lot of party games like Catch Phrase, Taboo, Apples to Apples, and Cranium; or would rock some geeky RPG games like HeroQuest or actual pen n' paper D&D and its offshoots. I had my Super Nintendo in my room--pre-internet, kids--and would gather groups of friends for play sessions (sometimes instead of going to class. Ooops!) In my years in the SCA there was a lot of historical games, among which fox & geese, mancala, and *ahem* Toblero stand out.
There was a long dry spell of board gaming in there, wherein I married a shy man who didn't like the social games as much as I did. He would buy me games, but most were for 3+ players and he rarely wanted to invite people over to play them. There weren’t a ton of two-player games on the market either of us would be madly in love with. We did end up playing a lot of PC and console games, though. He was the one who introduced me to UO, my first MMORPG experience. We played lots of Playstation games and other co-op and P2P games like Diablo, Gauntlet, and Unreal Tournament. But since we also enjoy a shared love of television and movies as our preferred entertainment, it was a lot of screen-time. I was getting really restless and unhappy.
I tried to institute a “screen-free” night a few times, but it never stuck because we were at a loss as to what to do together at home outside of house work or hobbies we didn’t share. For instance I could knit, then what would he be doing? One of his main hobbies is building computers, which would necessitate another screen so that was out. We would go for long walks with the dogs in warmer months, but that didn’t work when the rains came. I liked biking a lot, but he didn’t fall for it the way I did. We went out to a lot of dinners, but that ended up costing money we didn’t want to be spending. It was confounding!
 |
| Date Night: King of Tokyo (not great for 2 players, it turns out!) |
Only recently have I had a chance to re-discover board games thanks to a board gaming revolution that has been taking place in the new millennium right under my nose. A world of themes, mechanics, artwork, and experiences that weren’t around when I was younger. The idea of a co-operative board game was fairly foreign until recently--you had to have a third player be a DM/GM at least, which meant a 3-player minimum on some of my favorite role playing or strategic games. Not so today with cooperative games like Pandemic (and the episodic Pandemic LEGACY!), Flash Point: Fire Rescue, Dead of Winter, Elder Sign, and Forbidden Island and Forbidden Desert. The craft of gaming has improved exponentially, with the gorgeous gaming experiences in Patchwork, Lanterns, Mysterium, and Dixit. This era has introduced concepts perfect for both new gamers and veterans alike, such as Carcassonne, Ticket to Ride, Camel Up, and 7 Wonders. Eurogaming brings in themes and mechanics previously unexplored--you can live whole lives through a game. The range of these game themes reach back into the past, like in Agricola; and into an imagined new age, as with Android: Netrunner and Galaxy Trucker.
 |
Lords of Waterdeep, looking sexay in the Broken Token box insert!
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Since discovering the panoply of options before me, my game collection has grown. Better yet, my husband’s voracious appetite is matching my own! We had to rearrange our living room recently to make room for a new table for gaming, and rework the book shelves to replace books and tchotchkes with game boxes. Our time at home together is no longer dominated entirely by screen time (TV/movies, or television or desktop gaming), but instead may include a debate about which game to set up...and which game we want to play after that.
This week was an incredibly trying week for reasons I won’t bore you with here. But suffice to say, by the end of a terrible week and weekend, we were emotionally and physically drained. A lot of Bad Shit went down, we had to cancel social plans with people we love and miss due to adulting, the sunny day was waning and we just wanted to hibernate. What did we do? We took a couple beers onto our back deck with some games, and in no time we were smiling and laughing. Gaming was a welcome respite and mental distraction from the terrible week, and a way to connect with one another, face to face, playing together. Not looking at a screen. Looking at each other. Sharing in something joyful.
 |
Forbidden Island - the closest call we ever had, but we got out alive!
|
It was a long time coming back around to the game-filled life I remember loving as a child. Gaming with another person or group of people is an act of connection, engagement, being present, challenge, exploration, and laughter. I am enthusiastic about sharing games with others because it makes me feel closer to those around me, even people I don’t know very well. In musing about it all I realize that for me, thanks to a lifetime of amazing people and making memories together around a console or table, gaming has always been synonymous with love.
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