Adventures of a tribal dancer...

On BGG on FB someone asked this question, so I gave it a good think, and realized...there isn't just one game that turned me into a gamer. My family molded me into one since I was little.

It began with the usual Chutes & Ladders, Candyland, Mousetrap, and Hi Ho Cherry-O. Whenever I was at a friend's house, if it was a choice of toys or games, I wanted games.

Later it was also the typical Monopoly, Scrabble, Connect Four, Chinese Checkers, Chess, Battleship, Boggle, Stratego, Clue, Trivial Pursuit, and Life. Who didn't play things like Sorry, Aggravation, and Trouble? Operation was a fave, Yahtzee and Uno went on every camping trip.

From Etsy Seller Mythic Makings

Also ubiquitous in my youth was Cribbage, Pit, Risk, Othello, Waterworks, and many card games (Crazy 8's, Gin Rummy, etc). My parents would have friends over to play card games and drink until the wee hours.

With groups, it was party games like Pictionary, Outburst, Taboo, and Scattergories. Scene It came out when I was a kid, along with a rash of other games using your TV/DVD player. I took these kinds of games into college and "adult life" with me, along with newcomers like Cranium. I would hold parties just to play board games, which was not a "thing" in the 90's among my group. Tabletop gaming then was something more D&D/Vampire related.

When I joined the SCA, Toblero, 9 Men's Morris, Mancala, Fox & Geese and more historical games became my obsession. I would design and create my own boards and pieces from carved or painted wood or sew and embroider them from colorful fabric and threads.

My Mom tried to implement a Thursday night family game night, but started it a little late when we were teens and resented it. LOL One tradition that stuck, though, was buying a new board game to learn and play on Thanksgiving after dinner.

I was surrounded by games my whole life! So it's hard to point to just one. But I can say as an adult, the two modern games that were pivotal for me was Akrotiri and Pandemic. Both made me go "Woah...wait...THIS is what gaming is like now?!" And it snowballed from there...

What about you? What games made you into a gamer?

board games gaming

How Do You Organize Your Games?

by Shay Moore The TribalDancer Friday, January 25, 2019

On BGG on FB, the question was asked how everyone organizes their games. We don't have some giant Kallax with games on them, we have a smatter of shelves and cubbies which previously held things like DVD's or books, and have slowly been appropriated for gaming over the years. Here's our...ahem...system.

We have a shelf near our front door which are quick-grab games. They are games that are good to teach new gamers, still strong for regular gamers, visually pretty/interesting, plays in under an hour typically. Basically a "we're going to a party, let's bring a game or two in case anyone wants to play" games. Intro/entry level things like Red Tavern Inn, Carcassonne, Azul, Splendor, Lanterns, etc. We keep a folded bag there that fits standard games and can fit 2-3 games in it.

Our rightmost living room shelf has one shelf which is two player games, primarily. So it has our Jaipur, Kodama Duo, Akrotiri, One Deck Dungeon, Star Realms, Jambo, Patchwork, etc Next shelf is current favorite games, ones we're pulling out a lot right now, like Terraforming Mars, various Tim Fowers games (Hardback, Paperback, Now Boarding, Burgle Bros), Roll for the Galaxy, Broom Service, to name a few.

The leftmost middle shelf has a batch of co-ops (Pandemic Season 2, Aeon's End, Shadowrun Crossfire, Xenoshyft, Flash Point Fire Rescue, etc), the top shelf and highest shelf are our chewiest games--games that take 2+ hours total including set up and play. Gloomhaven, Mechs vs. Minions, Arkham Horror, City of Kings, Mansions of Madness, etc live here. Our Legendaries live up here, too.

There is a lower shelf which has some obscure games we don't play as much, but are pretty easy to get into. A lot of random Kickstarters land here for us, like Einstein, Tesla vs. Edison (both editions), Minerva, Mr. Cabbagehead's Garden, Outlive.

The shelf near the TV are games we love which fit the form factor. LOL No seriously, the top shelf is pretty much all standard 12X12 boxes, like Escape The Curse of the Temple, Castles of Mad King Ludwig, Above & Below, Android Netrunner, etc. Below that is common rectangular form factors, like Saint Malo, San Juan, Castles of Burgundy, Broom Service, etc.

Inside the TV stand: on the top are smaller card games and pub games, like Roll For It, Nightmarium, The Game, Tiny Epic _____, Herbaceous, Fairy Tale, etc. Below that are the rest of the Pandemics and Flash Points (Iberia, Cthulu, expansions), Elder Sign and all expansions, and a large collection of CAH and expansions (gathering dust, not because we eschew it, but because we have a lot more gamer friends into chunkier games now).

Then the basement is everything else. Lots of games we haven't even opened yet, games we played out and need a break, games we have boxed up to see if they are ready to be given away/sold or not.

And then there is this awkward stack of games on a side table in the living room that we haven't taken to the basement, don't have room on the shelves in the living room, but are playing off and on right now. We don't know where they will land until we know how much we like them.

The system has zero precision, but it works for us because if we know player count, table size, play length, and mood/style of game, we have an idea where to look.