Return and Report

This past Saturday I got together with my newly found gaming group. This is the second time I've met with them, and I can't tell you how much I had been looking forward to it. My wife's sister was in town so she didn't get to go with me - but there is always next week...babysitter willing.

There must have been around 10 or so people again. I wrote up some game sessions for two of the ones I played (Mississippi Queen and Knights & Cities of Catan), but I decided not to do one for the last game I played, Roborally.

Why?

We play in a public space that had a fair amount of traffic through it due to a college football game happening later that day. While I was playing K&C, two young boys (around 10 years old or so) came up to us and asked if they could play one of my games (I had brought quite a stack). Sure! I didn't have a problem as long as they were careful, besides their dad was with them. So they looked through and grabbed Roborally. (silent prayer to myself...PLEASE be careful!)

As we finished up K&C they brought Roborally back and thanked me. Not a problem. Several of the group had to leave and I wanted to get one more game in. Another of my fellow gamers (Eli) wanted to learn Roborally and invited the two boys to play with us. The way they were talking, I assumed they knew how to play...

Honestly, I have never wanted to act on the impulse to reach over the table, grab somebody by the head and scream to their face to shut up...until then. These two boys asked question after question (simultaneously) the whole time. I mean they didn't even wait for an answer before they started the next one....and almost none of them had to do with the game. Did I see such and such movie, do I like Star Wars, does your roommate not like games (I'm married), does your wife not like games (no she does), why doesn't he (pointing to Eli) babysit for you so she can play...

The just kept talking and talking and talking. I had to tell them several time (politely of course) to not distract us while we figured out our cards...to no avail. They (to all appearances) just randomly threw down cards and immediately wanted to start turning them over. I had to remind them (a lot) to wait for the rest of us to get our cards down. They both died by falling off the board or into a pit the first round....and the second round....and then preceeded to have a pushing match (while shooting each other to pieces) with each other on the third and fourth.

Through all this I conviently forgot to go over some of the rules (to speed things along) and Eli was doing a fairly decent job of grasping the idea. And to his credit, he managed to laugh off the whole aggravating experience. By the fourth round I was so far ahead it wasn't really fun for anyone (well for me and Eli that is) so I made up the excuse that I needed to get home and packed up (I think Eli gave a sigh of relief).

Afterwards the dad came up to me and thanked me for playing with his sons. I have the feeling that he knew what we had just gone through so I remained civil and said it wasn't a problem.

Now, I'm all for playing with younger folk, but....I'm just glad I wasn't the one who invited them to play.

A Real, Living Gaming Group!!

Okay, so I get a message here on the Geek about two weeks ago from Andy (ralgnar), who is new to the Geek, wanting to get together for some gaming. Sure! You bet! So we set a meeting time and place for Saturday at 10am. We meet up, sit down and start to pull out our games. Suddenly, a group of people are standing next to us with armfuls of games....I thought they were with Andy....nope. Apparently there is a gaming group who meets at that spot every Saturday at 10!

WAAAHOOO!

Holy Smokes!!! There ended up being 11 people there (male and female)! Did I mention they meet every Saturday? I have people to game with!!!

Since I can't remember everyone's name, I can't do a detailed session report. But here is the abridged version: We first split into two groups. The one I was in played Munchkin with several expansions (don't hate me because I'm a geek), and I have to say they are a fun group to play that with. The other group played...I think it was called Ninja Burgers...? Looks funny but not really my thing. After that, I managed to convince (not that it was hard) three others to play Through the Desert with me. I came in second to last. Had a great time, though. While we played that, a game of Carcassone was started. I had to leave after that - family obligations and all - but I know my wife and I will both join in as often as we can.

Anyone else in the area (Pullman, WA - Washington State University) feel free to join us!

Go for an Early Birthday Present

I've mentioned several time how bad at the game Go I am. However, something keeps me playing. I have a birthday coming up in a week and last night I got a bit of a "present". On the Keisdo Game Server I finally managed to play enough games to get a solid ranking - that is a ranking without a question mark after it.

This may not seem like such a big deal (it is only a 25K rating after all), but for me it is a kind of milestone. Happy Early Birthday to Me!

P.S. Next goal: get above 20K :P

A New Gamer is Born!

Almost a week ago (Monday, Sept 13) my wife gave birth to a little baby girl. I haven't announced it until now because I've been a bit busy with my other three kids, and school, and family, and visitors, and...you get the idea.

When our last two kids were born, we brought games to the hospital to play while we waited - obviously not during heavy labor. This time we only brought two games because we weren't expecting a long wait - her water broke a week early instead of going in to be induced a week late.

First, I am unashamed to admit that I won my first game of Hera & Zeus while we were there. My victory was only slightly blunted by the fact that I beat a pregnant lady having a baby. Still, I can't really feel bad, because she totally slaughtered me in a game of Upwords.

9:22 in the evening Emma was born, unbeknownst, into a family of gamers. Do you think the nurses would have let us out of the hospital if they knew?

Generations come and generations go, but the games will stay in our family forever!

Games vs. Legos

I love games. I also love legos. I had forgotten how much I love legos until today. My wife and I are about to have our fourth child (one week until the due date) and it has been a tradition of sorts to buy gifts for our other kids when a new bundle o' joy arrives.

So there I was wandering through the toy section of Walmart trying not to drool too much over Heroscape (after all, I was there for presents for the kids...not me). I picked up a baby doll for our youngest daughter (age 2) and I was trying to find something for our other two (ages 4 and 6) without spending a lot of money (pretty tight budget these days).

And then I hit the lego section.

Of course! We already had a small 100 piece or so set that my kids enjoyed playing with - but there never was enough for everyone. So I snapped up the last 1000 piece bucket on the shelf and headed home.

Well, I did a bad job hiding the presents and within five minutes of getting home the packages were opened. Happily, I got down on the floor amid the scattered legos and began building. Holy smokes! From the moment I ran my hands through the colored bricks and listened to the distinctive sounds that only legos can make, I was done for. Long after the kids moved on to other things, Dad was there still building and taking apart, building and taking apart.

My wife comes in and asks, "Who did you buy those for anyway?"

So later in the day, I'm on the internet looking at the lego website and planning out future purchases when it hits me...this is exactly what I do for board games! Not only am I a Board Game Geek, I'm a Lego Geek as well!

This then begs the question: Should I nip this in the bud before I have every closet in the house packed with games and every blank spot along a wall lined with lego containers? OR Do I spread what limited funds I already have (or don't have as the case may be) between the two?

Oh, the horror, the horror !