Board Game Geek

Yes, I will admit I am a board game geek! I have always loved to play games. When I was 10 my favorite was Careers by Parker Brothers. I guess for me this was my “Settlers of Catan.” Settlers of Catan seems to be the new 'gateway drug' or introduction into cool board games.  Unfortunately beside Monopoly and the other basic Milton Bradley games we didn’t have much to choose from. Then there was those year my mother didn’t allow us to play with face cards (Whatever!)  Needless to say I simply didn’t have much exposure to other “cool” card games and board games.

But I always loved playing games with stategy.  My father did have the coolest miniature Monopoly set that he made during the years before kids and when he still had free time for such projects. It was kept up high in the storage/toy closet where I imagine my father also hid the PONG game and other cool things we were not supposed to play with. That didn’t stop me from sneaking in there look at the tiny board and pieces.  And then there was the cool Pente game my Dad kept in his closet and brought out for special times.

When I started hanging out with Kenneth, one of the things that kept me going back (because remember I already had a boyfriend and though Kenneth was a super nerd) was the games. Sundays nights at the Hardy home meant card games. Nertz and Killer UNO were their favorites. While it was simple fun, what those sticky cards really meant to all the kids who hung at the Hardy house was “welcome home, you are all family here,” I knew there must be something more. And the Nerd Krew was just the group I needed to open a new world to me.

The guy who would mysteriously show up at game nights with a box tucked under his arm was Steve Clauson. He always had something new and each time I HAD to have a copy! My all time favorite is Cosmic Encounters. From then on I was hooked and was just as happy to take a drive to hole in the wall game stores as the mall. And even though I still enjoy an evening of a simple card game like Hand and Foot or Killer UNO it’s strategy games that I really live for. And ever gamer knows German Strategy games are the best.  And the games must have 'cool bits' or pieces.

Here is a fun article I just read in WIRED...

Monopoly Killer - WIRED April 2009 (click to read)

I have included a few favorite places to buy and read about board games under the fun and games section of my blog.

What was your favorite game when you were a kid?
And what and your favorite game nowadays?