My Game Group and the Odds and Ends That Make it Up
For my first post that will be chock full of content I decided to go with a more obvious topic. My game group. Since I am doing this blog about the socialization inherent in playing board games it is only natural that I discuss my game group at great length in order to let you, the reader, get a fix on where I am coming from.
What is a game group you ask? Well, it is very simple, a group of people that get together regularly to play games. And mine is rather interesting to say the least. Well, I think so anyway. I will let you make your own judgment. Oh, and on a side note, I plan on inputting pictures from now on to make it more interesting for you! I know, I know, it is the least that I could do.
So who makes up my group? Well, a number of good friends that I have known for years. Two of the young fellers (we are all in our twenties and in college at this point) I play with regularly I have known since middle school (so about 7 or 8 years now give or take) and the other regular I play with I have known since high school (maybe 4 years now). We also have a few stragglers that show up every now and then and we have a new guy that is starting to play with us regularly as well. So we should have five regulars from now on. Now, as you can imagine this makes for a very tight group dynamic. We are all good friends and enjoy each others company very much I like to think. We meet every other week for Euro or American style games and once a week for War games.
In any given game group you will have a number of different themes that the members will each be interested in. This means that we get a large assortment of different game types to the table. I have the good fortune of being part of a pretty open minded group, though I haven't yet convinced them of the redeeming qualities of the 2007 Spiel des Jahres winning Zoolorretto as of this writing... But more on that later. We play racing games, abstract games, trading games, tile laying games, economic games, cooperative games, and of course combat games. So let me give you the run down of some of the group favorites as well as my personal favorites. Any members that read this should feel free to chime in with their actual favorites.
Group Favorites (My educated guesses in no particular order)
How do I choose games (I see a pattern emerging! Maybe you can spot it too!) you say? Well my friend, it is rather simple. I choose games that I am interested in. Now, of course I take into account play time and other small factors, but for the most part if I am interested in a game, I pick it up and we try it out. They are not required to like it of course, everyone has their own personal likes and dislikes, but I do shove a lot of new games down their throats. It is in their best interest of course! It is my little way of feeling out what they like and don't like.
Sometimes we have a Baby Yoshi (please don't sue me Nintendo, I love your products!) when we play certain games or with certain people. But before I continue maybe I should explain the terminology first! A Baby Yoshi is a term that some intrepid members of my group came up with and it just sort of stuck. Now, I have of course broadened its meaning for my purposes! A baby yoshi is quite simply someone who doesn't like a game or is not happy with how a game is going and makes that very known. If you have played some of the SNES Mario games in the past you will understand its meaning. Adult Yoshi gets hit and runs away, but he can actually do something for you. Baby Yoshi on the other hand is a nuisance and completely useless. Therefore, a Baby Yoshi is someone who can cause a game to be cumbersome and ruin the experience. We have had a really BIG Baby Yoshi in the past but he has since grown up and doesn't play if he isn't going to enjoy the game. A good thing for everyone let me assure you! All it takes is one Baby Yoshi to ruin a game for the whole group and that is no good at all. If you have one of these I find the best way to end the problem is to flat out confront it, although that may be due to my personality type more than anything else...
We have gone over a lot in this post and there will certainly be more to come! I guess there will have to be a part two! On the next episode I will finish my explanation of our game group and detail the types of players that inhabit our group. And let me assure you, they are diverse. May your armies conquer and your dice roll well!
Note: I would love feedback on the blog, as well as any ideas that you have for topics in future posts. I have my ears and eyes open. Let me know what you think! I changed the name of the blog and its address. It is now aroundthetableandgaming.blogspot.com so bookmark it!
Next episode: My Game Group and the Odds and Ends That Make it Up- Part Deux
What is a game group you ask? Well, it is very simple, a group of people that get together regularly to play games. And mine is rather interesting to say the least. Well, I think so anyway. I will let you make your own judgment. Oh, and on a side note, I plan on inputting pictures from now on to make it more interesting for you! I know, I know, it is the least that I could do.
So who makes up my group? Well, a number of good friends that I have known for years. Two of the young fellers (we are all in our twenties and in college at this point) I play with regularly I have known since middle school (so about 7 or 8 years now give or take) and the other regular I play with I have known since high school (maybe 4 years now). We also have a few stragglers that show up every now and then and we have a new guy that is starting to play with us regularly as well. So we should have five regulars from now on. Now, as you can imagine this makes for a very tight group dynamic. We are all good friends and enjoy each others company very much I like to think. We meet every other week for Euro or American style games and once a week for War games.
In any given game group you will have a number of different themes that the members will each be interested in. This means that we get a large assortment of different game types to the table. I have the good fortune of being part of a pretty open minded group, though I haven't yet convinced them of the redeeming qualities of the 2007 Spiel des Jahres winning Zoolorretto as of this writing... But more on that later. We play racing games, abstract games, trading games, tile laying games, economic games, cooperative games, and of course combat games. So let me give you the run down of some of the group favorites as well as my personal favorites. Any members that read this should feel free to chime in with their actual favorites.
Group Favorites (My educated guesses in no particular order)
- Power Grid (this one was a surprise hit, definitely the group favorite)
- Axis and Allies
- Settlers of Catan
- Puerto Rico
- Carcassonne
- Civilization (this gets a close second to Power Grid)
- Ticket to Ride (probably will be replaced with Railroad Tycoon, we shall see)
- Arkham Horror (everyone seemed to enjoy it, but we have only played once)
- Formula De Mini
- Wings of War (maybe?)
- Power Grid
- Axis and Allies
- Civilization
- Arkham Horror
- Settlers of Catan
- Carcassonne
- Ticket to Ride
- Zooloretto
- Puerto Rico
- Wings of War
How do I choose games (I see a pattern emerging! Maybe you can spot it too!) you say? Well my friend, it is rather simple. I choose games that I am interested in. Now, of course I take into account play time and other small factors, but for the most part if I am interested in a game, I pick it up and we try it out. They are not required to like it of course, everyone has their own personal likes and dislikes, but I do shove a lot of new games down their throats. It is in their best interest of course! It is my little way of feeling out what they like and don't like.
Sometimes we have a Baby Yoshi (please don't sue me Nintendo, I love your products!) when we play certain games or with certain people. But before I continue maybe I should explain the terminology first! A Baby Yoshi is a term that some intrepid members of my group came up with and it just sort of stuck. Now, I have of course broadened its meaning for my purposes! A baby yoshi is quite simply someone who doesn't like a game or is not happy with how a game is going and makes that very known. If you have played some of the SNES Mario games in the past you will understand its meaning. Adult Yoshi gets hit and runs away, but he can actually do something for you. Baby Yoshi on the other hand is a nuisance and completely useless. Therefore, a Baby Yoshi is someone who can cause a game to be cumbersome and ruin the experience. We have had a really BIG Baby Yoshi in the past but he has since grown up and doesn't play if he isn't going to enjoy the game. A good thing for everyone let me assure you! All it takes is one Baby Yoshi to ruin a game for the whole group and that is no good at all. If you have one of these I find the best way to end the problem is to flat out confront it, although that may be due to my personality type more than anything else...
We have gone over a lot in this post and there will certainly be more to come! I guess there will have to be a part two! On the next episode I will finish my explanation of our game group and detail the types of players that inhabit our group. And let me assure you, they are diverse. May your armies conquer and your dice roll well!
Note: I would love feedback on the blog, as well as any ideas that you have for topics in future posts. I have my ears and eyes open. Let me know what you think! I changed the name of the blog and its address. It is now aroundthetableandgaming.blogspot.com so bookmark it!
Next episode: My Game Group and the Odds and Ends That Make it Up- Part Deux
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