A Good Excuse to Play More Games/Finally Came Up With a Tag Line

Alternate Title: Minus 40 Degrees of Collaboration


I like to play games that are new to me. Some people like to play the hell out of a few games and rarely, if ever, experience new games. I suppose most people fall in the middle somewhere.

In my circle of gaming friends there a couple others who I consider to be as enthusiastic as I am to discover new games. There are a couple others who strongly prefer to play games they are familiar with. As you might imagine this leads to some tension on game night. Should we play a tried and true game like Puerto Rico for the umpteenth time or try a new game that we can expect to make some mistakes and spend time looking up and arguing rules?

Don't get me wrong. I like Puerto Rico. It's a good game to break out regularly. I even like to play bad games a few times just to make sure I'm not missing something, but more importantly for me I have a strong desire to expand my horizons.

My owned-but-unplayed-list includes Taj Mahal, Settlers of Nurnberg, Die Macher, Reef Encounter, Keythedral, La Citta, Revolution: The Dutch Revolt, Citadels, Lowenherz, Conquest of Empire, 7 Ages, Tichu, Mu and Mehr, Ricochet Robots, Indonesia, Borderlands, Attack (and Expansion), Mystic Wood, A House Divided, Chariot Lords, Polarity, Junta, Samarkand, 2038, Sienna, Anno 1503 among many lesser ranked games*. Many of these games have been sitting unplayed for several years. For every game that sits unplayed I must have 2 games that have only hit the table once and are begging to be played again.

After one contentious game night I awoke from a deep sleep with an epiphany. True story by the way. We need an evening dedicated to learning new games. It doesn't need to be a long night. Just a couple hours would do, so it could even be during the week. We don't need to have a large group, just a few people who are willing and are expecting to learn a new game. We have no shortage of unplayed games, and not just mine. Having a night dedicated to learning new games would allow us to pick and choose which games to introduce to the main group on our regular game night. I think much of the reluctance to play new games could be mitigated if we could cull the stinkers before introducing them to the others.

A couple of us agreed to gather on Monday evenings with the goal of learning new games. So far it has worked pretty well. Everyone involved knows that it is new-game night, so no one can complain if we don't play Settlers of Catan or Traders of Genoa. No one even suggests it.

The games we play don't even have to be new to everyone involved. We have played several games that were new to most of the group.

So far this approach has worked well. Those of us who like it get to learn new games, and the others don't feel obligated to play games they don't want to play. I've found that new-game-night has the added benefit of giving us a better idea of strategy and pitfalls that can occur in the game. We can then share that information with the regular group on Friday should we determine that a certain game will go over on regular game night.

I've found that people who like to stick to a few familiar games do so for a reason. They are often frustrated when they make a move that they thought was good but turns out to be a mistake. There are usually charges thrown about of changing the rules, or you didn't tell me that was a bad move. I (like to think I) take such mistakes in stride, count it as a lesson learned and apply that knowledge in the next game. Others let it ruin their game experience. Fleshing out games first helps greatly in this aspect, but most importantly it is a great excuse to play more often.

On a completely unrelated note;

Woooo-Hooooo. It's February!!! Only 3 more months 'til spring!!!!!!

Coldfoot
Boardgamers do it for hours


* Doge, Oh Pharaoh, Freedom in the Galaxy, Mall World, Dragon Hunt, Terra, A Line In the Sand, Medici, Medieval, Tyrus, Tongiaki, Panzer Leader, Origins, Clash of Gladiators, Divine Right, Silverton, Bobby Lee, Victory, Pacific Victory, Ur: 1830 B.C., Oriente, Alexander, Beowulf, Mystery Rummy: Jack the Ripper, Kings and Things, The Motley Fool, Africa, Quest for the Dragonlords, GemQuest, numerous game expansions... and others.