It’s good to share ones’ love of gaming

I used to refer to myself as a board game evangelist, something that I’ve stopped for a whole lot of reasons. One of them is that it smacks of telling you what kind of games you’re supposed to like. As opposed to finding what games you actually like.

I also used to say that if you don’t like board games, you just haven’t found the right board game yet. And I still say that and I’m willing to help you find that game.

My late, beloved grandma found her game long before I was born and that game was Scrabble. And she didn’t need any other game and that is really cool. That’s just one of the many lessons I learned from her.

I have to admit, I am a big fan of what different people have called Classic Euros/German Family Games. While I had a history of board games from things like my high school’s war game club and Chess, games like Catan and Lost Cities and such are what really got me into board games. 

And they are my choice for trying to make people happy. As family games, they are designed to be accessible, relatively short and keep everyone engaged. (Of course, I can make arguments for party games and abstracts and Ameritrash. War games are harder to sell as an intro to board games)

And over the last year, I’ve tried to pack one light, quick game of that school when going to events and they always seem to work. For Sale has had a good run for me and Money had some good innings as well.

I don’t try and pack a bag full of them, like I did when I was younger. Instead, I just try and pack one game that I both feel like playing and that I feel confident will work. I’m not looking to make someone into a convert to school of German Family Games/Classic Euros. I’m just looking to make sure everyone at the table is having a good time.

You know, maybe next time it will be TransAmeica’s turn.