Underground Nerdetry
I was over at Ben's apartment during our Pennsylvania days when his roommate, Joe, proposed we play a board game.
Board games. No thanks. They always take too long and I never play strategically enough to win—ever. This game? There were two sets of cards, a thousand tiny game pieces and too many 'wellll, you can't do that in this instance' nuances. Gimmie a box of Rummikub over that hubbub any day.
Then somehow I got hooked. The multiple strategies, the changing game set up; this is good variation Dana, accept it. After that, Ben, Joe and I played like little board game addicts (though, still, I almost never won). Months later Andrew, a high school friend, came to visit Ben and Joe. The three of us geeked out over the thought of an additional player. Soon the night of in-town bar hopping was forfeited for hours of play. The next night all Andrew wanted to do was play again. Board game over beer, people. That's big.
When Ben and I moved to our apartment in Michigan, we determined who would purchase our own edition of the game before agreeing on whose name the bills would be in. We taught local pals, Andy and Ashley, how to play and now routinely get together for game nights. I hear other (cough, inferior, cough) games may exist, but in the nine months we've been game-nighting, we haven't even entertained the notion of switching it up.
We brought up the game when entertaining friends, Chelsea and Rob. Chelsea had never heard of it, but Rob was already hooked. The next time we saw them, Chelsea was hooked too. Last month when waiting to meet friends at a local bar for dinner, Ben and I both 'oooh'ed' with jealousy when we watched a lady carry a set of this game in for bar play. While home last Christmas, B and I talked casually about our game nights with my family.
“Wait, you play Settlers of Catan?” my Oregon livin’ brother-in-law asked. “We have friends over all the time to play. What expansion packs do you use?”
Settlers is on the shelves of lots of stores now. I’m thinking its underground allure is just about gone. But if going mainstream means I can skip explaining why building a settlement on the edge of the desert is not the grandest of ideas and jump right into a three-hour Settling marathon—I’m cool with that.
Board games. No thanks. They always take too long and I never play strategically enough to win—ever. This game? There were two sets of cards, a thousand tiny game pieces and too many 'wellll, you can't do that in this instance' nuances. Gimmie a box of Rummikub over that hubbub any day.
Then somehow I got hooked. The multiple strategies, the changing game set up; this is good variation Dana, accept it. After that, Ben, Joe and I played like little board game addicts (though, still, I almost never won). Months later Andrew, a high school friend, came to visit Ben and Joe. The three of us geeked out over the thought of an additional player. Soon the night of in-town bar hopping was forfeited for hours of play. The next night all Andrew wanted to do was play again. Board game over beer, people. That's big.
When Ben and I moved to our apartment in Michigan, we determined who would purchase our own edition of the game before agreeing on whose name the bills would be in. We taught local pals, Andy and Ashley, how to play and now routinely get together for game nights. I hear other (cough, inferior, cough) games may exist, but in the nine months we've been game-nighting, we haven't even entertained the notion of switching it up.
We brought up the game when entertaining friends, Chelsea and Rob. Chelsea had never heard of it, but Rob was already hooked. The next time we saw them, Chelsea was hooked too. Last month when waiting to meet friends at a local bar for dinner, Ben and I both 'oooh'ed' with jealousy when we watched a lady carry a set of this game in for bar play. While home last Christmas, B and I talked casually about our game nights with my family.
“Wait, you play Settlers of Catan?” my Oregon livin’ brother-in-law asked. “We have friends over all the time to play. What expansion packs do you use?”
Settlers is on the shelves of lots of stores now. I’m thinking its underground allure is just about gone. But if going mainstream means I can skip explaining why building a settlement on the edge of the desert is not the grandest of ideas and jump right into a three-hour Settling marathon—I’m cool with that.
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| Cupcake Catan. A dream come true. |