In the board game community, we often talk about "gateway games," those games we present to the unwitting uninitiated to draw them into our fold. "Gateway games" are those games that change the way a person views gaming. A lightbulb goes on, and the person says, "Wow, bits of cardboard can be fun!" This Friday's question offers you a chance to share your story: what was the gateway game that drew you into the hobby? A bonus question: do you still like your gateway game? Answer in the comments!
[editors note: friday question is now saturday question, because @futurewolfie has a real job and doesn't always get a chance to write his side of the post.]
@FarmerLenny answers:
It's hard for me to credit any one game. My family is a board- and card-game-playing family, and I remember my first games of Pinochle and Dutch Blitz (or maybe just Pinochle) with a certain relish. I also played several CCGs (namely Overpower, Redemption, Star Wars, and Marvel Vs.), which were certainly precursors to more complex games. But as far as the board gaming hobby is concerned, I suppose my entry point would have to be Kill Doctor Lucky or Acquire. I think Settlers of Catan predated both of these games in terms of when I played it, but my first experience of Settlers was not exactly favorable. (Admittedly, my friend was so excited to teach it to me that he didn't wait till we had the proper number of players, and we played a two-player game, which was pretty lame.) I played Kill Doctor Lucky on a visit to my sister and brother-in-law's house, and I loved it so much that I ordered my own copy when I got home. I wanted to make sure I had a copy to share with my friends. And Acquire was the game that completed the work that Kill Doctor Lucky began. Acquire, as I've mentioned elsewhere, has it all and has remained my favorite game, built on this nostalgia factor.
@Futurewolfie answers:
Whoof, this is kind of a big question for me. I don't know if there was one specific game that drew me in. If you read the first post of this blog, you can get a pretty good idea of my story. But it was pretty gradual - my family played bored games sometimes as a family activity growing up, but they didn't really stick much (and I didn't realize why til much later. We played not-fun games like Clue). Heroclix was a boardgame I played a lot in highschool, but I think I got into it a lot for the novelty of playing as superheroes. Settlers of Catan opened up a door that lead me to the world of greater board-gaming, and while Settlers is a fine game, I wouldn't say that game really brought me into the hobby.
Really what did it for me was just finding the FLGS in my area after the local Gamers Paradise shut down. Incidentally, finding this FLGS (called "Games Plus") made me realize how non-gaming-paradise the Gamers Paradise actually was. Games Plus offered several shelves full of unrecognizable (at the time) games, and I distinctly remember standing next to Bryan saying, "There are so many games here. A lot of them HAVE to be amazing - I just wish I knew which ones." Now I'm a lot more educated, but my first game from that world was Android - a game that, despite its length and complexity, taught me that board games could be complex, strategic, have interesting themes, and not involve rolling dice all the time.
What's yours?
Showing posts with label Dutch Blitz. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Dutch Blitz. Show all posts
Friday, July 8, 2011
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Friday Question: What Game Has Produced the Most Memories?
Let's face it: gaming is not about winning and losing (despite what Scotty Sore-loser-pants says when you try to console him). It's about the common experience of bringing people together. So this Friday's Friday question addresses just that: what game has produced the most (or fondest) memories for you or your group? Feel free to answer (and share some of those memories) in the comments.
@FarmerLenny answers:
I've probably spent the most time with Monopoly or Risk, but strangely enough, those memories have (for the most part) been repressed. The game for me that carries some of the fondest memories is Kill Dr. Lucky. My brother-in-law introduced me to this game on one of my summer visits, and I promptly ordered a copy from the publisher (whose name on the shipping box produced raised eyebrows when it arrived in the mail). This was before the fancier version came out, but after the original edition. I bought the director's cut, the version with all the creative modes of failure ("The doctor vanishes inexplicably in a cloud of feathers," etc.). When I introduced it to my friends at college, they were skeptical at first, but it soon became a Family Game Night staple (along with Pit, Bang, and Silent Football). Kill Dr. Lucky was always a good time--even when someone else did the doctor in. Runners up in the fond memories category are Dutch Blitz, Pinochle, and Rook, memories of which I've described elsewhere.
@Futurewolfie answers:
Oh man. Despite my relatively recent foray into the deeper world of quality board games, I actually do have a lot of memories of playing board-and-card games with family and friends. We would play Pit very loudly around the dining room table, and the hit French road-racing game Mille Bornes (which I recently discovered is absolutely not fun at all with only 2 players). When it was just me, my sister, and my parents, we would play Sequence, very competitively. I remember playing The Game of Life with my sisters and from what i recall never actually playing with all the rules correctly intact by the end of the game. My mom, who gave me my creativity and love of writing, bought me UpWords and we would play together. My friend Bryan introduced me to Heroclix and I dumped boatloads of my allowance towards that collection. We even built a custom 3D heroclix map with skyscrapers and a truck, which is probably the most productive thing we ever voluntarily did in high school. I realize I kind of broke the "favorite memory" shtick by listing off a dozen memories, but as I didn't really get into board-gaming until recently, all these little memories flow together in the melting-pot of my memories.
Oh yeah, and The Omega Virus.
Your turn. :-)
@FarmerLenny answers:
I've probably spent the most time with Monopoly or Risk, but strangely enough, those memories have (for the most part) been repressed. The game for me that carries some of the fondest memories is Kill Dr. Lucky. My brother-in-law introduced me to this game on one of my summer visits, and I promptly ordered a copy from the publisher (whose name on the shipping box produced raised eyebrows when it arrived in the mail). This was before the fancier version came out, but after the original edition. I bought the director's cut, the version with all the creative modes of failure ("The doctor vanishes inexplicably in a cloud of feathers," etc.). When I introduced it to my friends at college, they were skeptical at first, but it soon became a Family Game Night staple (along with Pit, Bang, and Silent Football). Kill Dr. Lucky was always a good time--even when someone else did the doctor in. Runners up in the fond memories category are Dutch Blitz, Pinochle, and Rook, memories of which I've described elsewhere.
@Futurewolfie answers:
Oh man. Despite my relatively recent foray into the deeper world of quality board games, I actually do have a lot of memories of playing board-and-card games with family and friends. We would play Pit very loudly around the dining room table, and the hit French road-racing game Mille Bornes (which I recently discovered is absolutely not fun at all with only 2 players). When it was just me, my sister, and my parents, we would play Sequence, very competitively. I remember playing The Game of Life with my sisters and from what i recall never actually playing with all the rules correctly intact by the end of the game. My mom, who gave me my creativity and love of writing, bought me UpWords and we would play together. My friend Bryan introduced me to Heroclix and I dumped boatloads of my allowance towards that collection. We even built a custom 3D heroclix map with skyscrapers and a truck, which is probably the most productive thing we ever voluntarily did in high school. I realize I kind of broke the "favorite memory" shtick by listing off a dozen memories, but as I didn't really get into board-gaming until recently, all these little memories flow together in the melting-pot of my memories.
Oh yeah, and The Omega Virus.
Your turn. :-)
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