Board games as comfort food

An old gaming friend recently let me know that Station Master was getting reprinted via Kickstarter. Since I have a copy of the Mayfair edition, I didn’t feel any need to back it but I was glad that it was getting reprinted.

But it got me thinking. Station Master is a game that I consider a good game but not a great game. It isn’t a game that I think gives you one of those amazing, memorable gaming experiences that you bore non-gamers with. But it is a game that I’d always be willing to play.

In fact, even though I have ruthlessly culled my collection over the years (although not so much that it actually frees up a closet), Station Master has never been in the cull pile. Its a game that I very much plan on keeping.

Because there are games that are the kind of games that you plan an entire evening around. There are games that are a kind of special event. Back in my old gaming group, playing Advanced Civilization once or twice a year was one of those games.

And then there are the gaming equivalent of comfort food, games that aren’t big productions but games that are not just easy to get on the table and get in a play or two, they are games that you actually do that with them.

So, honestly, these comfort food games are what I have played more of over the years. And a decent percentage of my collections qualifies as comfort food games. It’s great to eat steak but that’s not what you eat every day.

But they do have to be games that are good enough that you want to play them over and over. And that’s no small thing. It’s a special kind of just good enough that is actually super excellent.

Station Master, you know, it deserves to get reprinted.