Statutory Warning: If you are looking for a review of a game, please wait it will start from my next post. If you want to know my story of how I got into gaming read on.
As they say everything in life has a story- this is one story from my life :-)
I wanted to write this not so much for others as much for myself. I though it would be good to capture thoughts that I contemplated really long and hard and hence this post :-)
Not so long ago I was contemplating and thinking to myself, how come I became so passionate about boardgames? I love cricket and play it/watch it to death. I play badminton as well, love outdoors and how come boardgames feature in between.
I say this because my collection up until March 2007 was just about 5-8 games! But today as it stands I have 62 games (which by the way is not too big J) and a wishlist of more than 10!
I found it very hard to believe that I acquired this unique taste (I say unique as I don’t know many who are as passionate about boardgames as I’m) over the last 2.5 yrs; hence began a retrospection session going back as much as I could right down to my childhood days. Guess what, it was not surprising that I love boardgames so much as it was in me al throughout; just that it got a vent and push in the right direction over the last couple of years (hahaha).
Let me take you down the memory lane in the next few paragraphs. As with most kids my exposure to boardgames started with “ಪರಮಪದಸೋಪನಂ” or Snakes and Ladders. (Though this is the South Indian version where children get to learn value systems through game play- you land on every good virtue- a ladder, land on any bad virtue snake’s head. Elders play with you and teach you these as you play along; I had my grandmother who played and thought me this.)
Post this it was the regular stuff, ಛೌಕ ಭರಃ, ಕೈ ಮೇಲಿ ಕಾಶಿ etc. However when I was in my middle school- roughly between my 5th and 7th standard, my dad used to subscribe a magazine called “Misha”. Not sure how many of you have heard that. I think it was a Russian children magazine that had some fairytales, jokes, craftwork etc. But the most important aspect of every issue (monthly) was the center page that had a new boardgame. They were all small racing games to be played with dice. Each of them had a different theme- if one was a forest adventure, the other was riding on the cloud, but all irrespective of their theme were racing games- meaning who reaches the destination 1st. It might sound boring, but I loved it and remember to have played it a lot with my neighbour’s kids. In fact I do vividly recollect how I used to cut the sheet out from the magazine and stick the sheet on a carbboard! Had a whole bunch of it.
Later it was during a trip to Delhi that my parents got me “25 in 1” a box of 25 different games. It had all games like Ludu, Pachisi, Cricket, 9 Man Morris, Horse racing and a lot of others that I didn’t even know how to play (hahaha, no instruction sheet mind you!).
Fast forwarding a few more years (I don’t remember what happened between 7th and 9th std- I guess that is whn I got Lotto Housie and my 1st carom board). During my 9th std, I got Business World (The Indian version of Monopoly) after I played it in my friend’s house. My brother and I used to play it a lot, in fact we played it so much that I had to stick every note on a KG Cardboard to prevent it from getting destroyed! Almost at the same time, my boardgame collection got a boost- thanks to my dad’s colleague who used to visit us from Muscat. He introduced us to Careers- a game of achieving money, fame and happiness using various routes and options- again a dice throwing game (will talk more about why I specify the type of the game). Though I really did not understand the balance between fame, money and happiness. I knew that to win, you needed a balance between the three J
He also got us introduced to the very famous UNO, and it was always a family favorite. All of us including my parents used to play this a lot. During this time, I had moved away from Bangalore (it was Bangalore then guys!) to Hyderabad where I got a taste of Trump Cards, Lexicon etc. WWF, Convertibles, Supercars, Fighter Planes, Cricket etc. Well I had become so addicted to these that my classmates and I used to play a round of Trump game during lunch breaks! In fact I had a hand made set of trump cards (I still have it!)
After this sudden surge there was a long period of lull. Between my 11th and till the end of my engineering the only boardgame that I was playing and that too occasionally was Carom board (which I got it when I was in 7th or 8th I think, but used to play occassionaly) and was fairly ok at that (Used to bunk classes to get a game of caroms chuckles). After my Engineering I had in fact forgotten what boardgames were and was sailing in the same boat as- “Oh Boardgames are for kids”. It was not until sometime in the 2nd half of 2004 that I got introduced to Boardgames again. This was when I was doing my MBA in Melbourne, Australia. Rajesh Hariharan was his name, an Indian classmate and I were out shopping some stuff at Big W (similar to Target) when I noticed the boardgame section. I used to live with my uncle during that time and he had come back home to India for a 5-week vacation. So I was all alone and getting bored. Rajesh suggested I pick up Cluedo (Clue) and that he along with his wife would join me in playing this. I had never heard of this game before and found it extremely interesting. This again rekindled my boardgame sprit! After that I found out that there was a boardgame shop right next to my Uni and started visiting that to get myself familiarized. I wanted to know if there were games where luck played a minor role and got to know such games. After much of deliberation I finally got Puerto Rico, spending a fortune (A $130) acquired Tycoon, Stock Market Tycoon and Risk. But for Cluedo I did not play any other game. Post this again there was a break though I was in touch with the boardgame world though Internet (to be more precise www.boardgamegeek.com :-))
After I got back to India in 2005 all these games were shoved into a cupboard where they sat for the next 2 years. In March 2007, Fidelity sent me to Boston for a 5-week trip. This was actually my turning point. I visited a games store in Harvard Square, spent 4 hrs talking to the guy and got so much input that completely changed my perception on Boardgames. My inclination to collect boardgames started at that instant and got 3 games- Thurn and Taxis, Caylus and Lost Cities. After that as they all say has been history. Anyone in the known circle going out would get me games! Of course they curse me for that! But I can’t help LOL
But I should thank each and everyone for having being kind enough to carry these games for me.
People in Bengaluru might have heard the [place Brew Ha Ha run by 2 of my friends Sreeram and Mansor (both IIMA pass outs). This was a boardgame café, where people could play games and eat some really good food. Again my circle of influence grew. I used to frequent this place and almost became a part of the team- teaching people boardgames, suggesting which games to buy and which one to play etc. etc. Brew Ha Ha closed down early this year, but we continue to meet and have fun!
Today I love playing Euro Strategy Games that really test your grey cells, however I’m slowly beginning to relish Fantasy games like Arkham Horror, Descent etc. I’ve started trying out some RPG’s (Role Playing games) and LARP’s (Live Action Role Plays).
I keep reading about the latest developments in the boardgaming world and contribute my 2 cents to this fascinating world through reviews, session reports etc.
What I wish to do in this blog from my next post on is to take a game talk briefly about the game mechanics, theme, bit about the rules (will refer you to the reviews on Boardgame geek where people have done better job than I do), provide a little but of info on the author, share my feelings about the game which might help you to decide if you want to give it a try (you can always come to my place to try- Up for a game always!) or buy it!
For everyone who patiently ploughed through this seemingly never ending story, my posts from here on will not be as long J
See you all with a game next time around!
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