So Frankly...

So Frankly...

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Game Group 2014

This past Sunday was the last Game Day of the year.  As my few frequent readers know, there are about a dozen of us that meet once a month to play a variety of games. This time, we played the games that we played in 2013, but that had not made it to the table in 2014. As a group, we played Acquire, Wasabi, Modern Art, and China. All of these are great games that we had somehow missed. 

So now that the last weekend is done, we can start tallying the numbers for the year.  Over the course of 2014, we played 28 different titles.  That is the largest number of titles we have ever played.  Of course, this is partly due to the fact that we have a larger number of attendees than we did in the past. And 2012 was a bizarre year anyway.  That year, we may have only had about half of the sessions we normally do.  This year we only missed one session. 

Interestingly enough, only seven of those were games were brand new to the group.  This is actually lower then any of the past two or three years.  (If you go back too far, my bookkeeping is a little sketchy.) This is partly due to a new tradition I started this year. Ending the year with a session built around the games we didn't get to this year, but that we have played before, means that there will be no new games in November. In January, the session will be built around playing games that we did play in 2014.  We can revisit the highlights of the year.  Of course, that means there will be no new games in January.  I did a similar thing this past January, so there were no new games for two of the months when there could have been. Add in the fact that June is for Dune, and there's a third month we did not have a new game.

There were some big hits, but I will cover them when I talk about my personal gaming this year. Suffice it to say I am looking forward to next year! 

So tell me, what did your family and friends play and 2014? 

It's Your Move!

 

Monday, November 3, 2014

Values

Almost four years ago, I wrote about the value of games.  At the time I was pretty focused on the entertainment value.  I compared the price of a game to the price of a movie.  I talked about cost per play.  I went into some amount of detail analyzing the cost of some of my games in light of the fun I've had; I spent about three paragraphs on this. 

The last paragraph was almost perfunctory.  I briefly mentioned the value of games as exercise for the brain. And I had one line of about playing games as part of building a family. 


Photo from commons.wikipedia.org
I should have flipped that post around.  You see, I don't think I realized how great gaming is for building a community. As an example, I will tell you that I was laid off at the end of August 2013.  My gaming group, and particularly a few individuals within it, were absolutely committed to making sure that our monthly game day still happened.  Our game day ends with dinner for all those who can stay. That can be as many as 12 people. Without a job, it was hard to throw this little party every month. However, the commitment of the group made it happen. I needed that, as a way to get my mind off of the roller-coaster job hunting can be - as a way to keep my spirits up.


Photo from ru.wikipedia.org
That's great, but it's not where the community building attributes of gaming really struck me. A few of the others in the group have recently talked about how much of a community - a family - we have in our little gaming group. We talk about our joys and hardships, our triumphs and disappointments during our game day, even though we really try and focus on playing. Everyone knows that it is a day to rest, relax, and share a meal. And if you need someone to laugh with you, commiserate with you, or pray with you, you will find it in the group. 

That's the value of games. 

It's Your Move!