Geeking About Gaming: Amy on Board Games
I love playing board and cards games, but I’m not very competitive – it feels nice when I win, but I will happily play a game that I know I never win, such as Power Grid.
I prefer games that encourage polite socials interactions, like cooperative games such as Arkham Horror: The boardgame is actually my favourite game as it’s a game that not only encourages you to work together to beat the big bad but does storytelling in a very elegant way.
Arkham features another two elements I like in a game – firstly its design is cohesive, and I find that cohesive design make that game easier for me to pick up because it feels like it just runs smoothly. Secondly I tend toward turn based games, like Ticket to Ride and Settlers of Catan, both of these games I like to play, although I never win I often come second, which is a significant improvement on my previous tendency towards last place.
We’ve started playing deck building games which bring back for me some of the things I used to enjoy about Magic the Gathering without spending anywhere near as much and without the sore winners that you sometimes come across in that world.
I like how I can sit there building my deck quietly and there’s usually a theme or some cards that I like to put in – like in clank, I’ll always try to get the cute cat, I know this is bad in some ways [Ste Note: That cat is seriously powerful – it’s not a bad choice at all] but it makes it fun for me and the last thing I like about this game is to watch the deck roll out – and these games I can win sometimes.
Another type, I tend to quite good at is betting games but this is a thing that has taken some time because I’ve gotten better at working out the odds – though I’ve always been good at the social aspect.
There are a few games I really don’t like, like Werewolf and The Resistance: I know most people see these as social games, but I find the behaviour they encourage uncomfortable, the accusations making me feel targeted at times and these games seem to encourage fighting, and may be left team up with someone who being a dick to you, since the teams are random and I know in the end I can be happier to make him lose than anything else because he’s a sore winner – so I think these are more anti-social games than social ones.
