by Brandon Kempf
This piece originally appeared on the WDYPTW websiteI don't know who posted it over on Facebook, but this meme perfectly describes how I feel when I talk about a game or try to explain a game to my family. Not my wife or children, bless their hearts, they get me, they understand what I'm going on about, most of the time at least even if they are busy watching the tv or checking their phones. But my parents or my brothers obviously just see me as this crazy person who has built this crazy land in my head. A place where it's easy to see why you don't have to follow suit when playing a trick taking game and it just seems like a normal acceptable thing to do. A place where you don't need dice to have randomness and a place where sending workers to do all the work for you is fun, not oppressive.
I have sat and played games with my family, don't get me wrong, they do humor me now and then. Over Christmas we usually will try to play at least one case from Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective, which surprisingly(not really) ends with my mother saying something to the affect that she knew what was going on in the first 15 minutes and she could have saved us all 2 hours of our evening. I have played Diamonds with my father and my uncles who, after it was all said and done, just wondered why we didn't play Hearts or Spades or Euchre or any other myriad of card games that we've played 100s of times over the years. I've played Ca$h & Gun$ with my Grandmother at Easter and had her walk away with double the money of the next person. But most of the time, they see me walk in with my IKEA bag full of games and just sigh. In fact, my mother usually makes me take the games out of sight so they don't "offend" her sense of decor. I do it each and every holiday when we get together, and I will continue to do it, one of these days they'll understand, right?
I think my brothers are my biggest confusion. We've had a lot of fun playing games like the aforementioned Ca$h & Gun$ and One Night Ultimate Werewolf. So much so that we had to stop due to laughing so much. I got excited once when one of them was going to host a "game night" and invited us over, come to find out the game was Clue. Which is fine, I would have played and had a good time with my brothers and their wives, but still, Clue? I thought I had shown them the way!
But I am thankful for my family. They are, for me at least, the reason for the season. Sorry about that, I had to do it. I will continue to be that crazy family member who will give himself a hernia carrying an overstuffed bag of board games that will not get played to each and every bigger family event, and yes, I will listen to my mother and I move the games off to a side room so they don't mess up the aesthetics of the decorations.
10 In the bag this year for Thanksgiving:Azul
Sticheln
Dragon Castle
WereWords
Santorini
Memoarrr!
Ticket to Ride
DownForce
Indulgence
Ladder 29Everyone have a fantastic Thanksgiving, if you celebrate it. If you don't I hope that you all have a fantastic Thursday and that it is filled with family and friends nonetheless.
