Board and
card games have held a significant fascination for me throughout much of my
life. Over the years, I have engaged with many board games, although I must
confess that only a select few have truly resonated with me and maintained
their appeal over time. While it is difficult to articulate precisely what
draws me in, I believe the attraction lies from a combination of several
factors I personally find compelling .
As a general rule, I find that each
board game offers a blend of strategy, social interaction, and mental challenge
that can be both thought-provoking and entertaining. The mechanics, depth, and
the opportunity for creative problem-solving contribute to an experience that
is enriching and at the same time enjoyable. As I shall elaborate further on,
the reasons behind my lasting interest are multifaceted, encompassing elements
of intellectual stimulation, community engagement as well as nostalgia.
Where it all started!
As a child, card and board games
were my way of proving my skills in an activity shared with adults. I have fond
memories of playing simple games like seven or ten-card rummy with my
grandparents and relatives, which provided a welcomed change of pace during
some of our many social encounters like, for instance, after a particularly
sumptuous Sunday lunch. In my mind, these games were often tied to festive
occasions such as Easter, Christmas, or the village feast in Sliema, where my
maternal grandparents lived.
I can vividly recall my
grandparents' rooftop on a warm spring day, table laid, with white shades
raised to shield us from the sun, surrounded by smiling faces and laughter that
only young minds can fully appreciate. The food was unforgettable, hearty, delicious,
and abundant. The enticing aromas were a dizzying commensal invitation for the
senses, but it was the shared experience and love that truly united us as a
family around the table. It fed into my innocent self-centeredness we all share
as children, blissfully unaware of life's harsh realities.
I still remember how, after the
meal, plates were swiftly cleared away, and the dining table transformed into a
gaming surface. We would bring out decks of Piatnik cards, carefully checking
for defects or missing items, an activity often carried out by my maternal
grandfather or uncle Carm, who made sure everything was in order and fit for
play.
Once everyone settled around the
table, we would choose a game. Rummy was a favourite, but we also played a game
called Flash, a mix of Crazy Eights and Uno using a standard deck. Although the
rules were often bent for fun or the occasional laugh, everyone enjoyed
themselves.
Board games and Family time
Board games were also played on
these occasions with Monopoly featuring as a family favourite. The games played
were interminable, but somehow on those special days it did not matter in the
least. We played on, prepared teas and passed biscuits and other munchies
around as we played. Only now do I realise just how precious those moments
truly were and how incredibly special those games were to me growing up.
At home the gaming situation was
different in that my mother seldom joined in the games though she did fancy a
game of rummy when the game was spread. She also happens to play the game
instinctually, winning without really understanding the underlying logic she
uses while playing. Fact remains she won, consistently and we were fine about
it. Dad on his part did not play much of anything, though he did buy me some
classic board games as I grew up, including Backgammon, Chess and Draughts.
What games I played, I usually played with my sister and the competition was
fierce.
My sister was a tremendously good
player when it came to abstract strategy games. One game she used to ace with
an astounding level of proficiency was “Connect 4”. Beating her at that game
was extremely difficult with draws being a more common occurrence...when I even
managed that! Still, it was those early interactions that helped nurture my
passion for board games and card games and to carry that with me throughout my
life.
Obviously as I grew, my focus
switched to a deeper appreciation of board and card games. For a while I became
absorbed by the history and development of the standard deck of cards. The
history behind its early development and democratisation thanks mostly to the
printing press is a fascinating topic.
Exploring the standard and
not-so-standard Card Decks
It was during that phase of my
life that I started to look at the various regional decks of cards from around
Europe but with specific focus on Italy. I learnt how these countries and
regions adapted the decks to the games they favoured as well as the vast spread
of diverse card games which grew around these decks. The Italian “Scopa”
remains one of my all-time favourites and I still love playing this game when I
get the opportunity. Some card enthusiasts look at Scopa as a kind of child’s
game, but I still feel that it’s highly entertaining and comes with some
interesting strategic choices if you even bother to consider them.
The Board Games of the 80ies and
Early 90ies
All along, my other passion, that
is board games, never truly waned. My early purchases, aside from Monopoly,
included games like Stratego and a kind of Rummy adaptation with Mahjong-style
cards called Mhing. There wasn’t much to go by in terms of board game reviews
and exposure though I did get to play an early version of Talisman (another
long winded game if there ever was one), Hotel, Hero Quest, Cluedo as well as
The Game of Life. Titles which at best epitomise the kind of mainstream games
available back then.
It must be said that in the
eighties and to an extent the early nineties, most board games I came across
could be divided into two categories, commercial ”mass market” or party games.
With mass market I mean games
that were marketed aggressively over the media of the time and which, with few
exceptions, tended to be targeted at a younger audience. Games like Hungry
Hippo, Operation, Simon Says, Twister and Bop-it were dexterity games or ones
that rewarded reflexes over mostly anything else. Others like Mastermind,
Othello, Connect Four, Battleships, Stratego, Cluedo and Risk were
significantly more cerebral by comparison but had been around for a while and
went through several iterations by the early nineties.
It must be said that most, if not
all, mass market games out there at the time were intended to sell and so
production companies tended to cut a few corners when it came to quality. At
times this showed mostly in the outer box but there were instances where even
the components could only be described as shoddy at best. When you’re young and
you don’t know any better it does not affect you much, but things change when
you start to develop an appreciation for these things.
The other category of games,
party games, was a genre I never really enjoyed. I used to find them to be
mostly loud, a bit on the obnoxious side or tended to reward raucous behaviour.
Not my cup of tea! For this reason I seldom if ever willingly participated in
such games and when I did I never felt engaged in any way. I am thinking here of games like Outburst, Taboo, Cranium,
Scattergories and others of that ilk.
Growing up, I tended to gravitate
towards titles or games with a fantasy or science fiction theme. This was why,
while it was relatively hard to come by, I particularly enjoyed my first ever
games of Talisman or Hero Quest when the opportunity arose.
Before proceeding, I must note
that, for reasons largely rooted in the cultural context of the time, some of
the more “serious” games were expected to take longer to complete. There was an
unspoken consensus that a quality game required a significant investment of
time to be deemed worthy of the label “grown-up entertainment.” Games like
Talisman and Risk, for instance, were known for their lengthy play sessions,
and participants were well aware of what they were signing up for.
Additionally, many of those early
games relied heavily on player elimination. It was common for games to
eliminate players at certain points, which often left the affected participants
watching idly or drifting away from the gaming table as the game progressed.
This dynamic shifted with the emergence of a new wave of games from Germany,
termed Euro games, that emphasised point
scoring and end-of-game tallies rather than player elimination.
The Euro Game Epiphany
In the early 2000s, I finally
experienced a true Euro game, which was a significant moment for me. The first
Euro game I played was Settlers of Catan, and it felt like a revelation. The
concept of having a unique board layout for each game was groundbreaking,
providing genuine replayability since no two games started in the same way.
Additionally, the gameplay kept all players engaged from start to finish, with
scoring occurring only at the end. This meant that even if you realised you
weren't winning, there were still actions to take and turns to enjoy. I was
also fascinated by the "robber" mechanic, which rendered certain
areas of the board unplayable until the robber was moved elsewhere.
As things turned out, Euro games
and the whole table top gaming hobby experienced a radical epiphany over the
past twenty-five years or so. The number of noteworthy titles grew
exponentially taking the gaming industry in all new directions. I have gone into
a lot of detail in other blogs posted to this website so I will not repeat
myself. Still I invite you to have a look at my other postings should you wish
to go deeper into the subject.
Board games the “swiss army
knives” of social gatherings
Throughout my whole experience to
date, I have realised that my fascination with these creations is not in the
gaming itself but rather with exertion of the mind and the satisfaction derived
when the presented puzzles are resolved. I am also keenly fascinated with the
kind of democratic egalitarianism that pervades these games. There is often a
streak of luck, an unknown that acts as an equaliser of sorts, bringing diverse
players with varying degrees of mental skill to the same table. Indeed once a
puzzle is cracked or at least substantially unravelled, winning becomes a more
frequent event, yet it is never guaranteed. This is what I find so tantalising.
Also, playing a board game can
serve the purpose of a social crutch like no other. They can help fill in
awkward silences when words fail us, and they do so by appealing to the mere
execution of play. This universal paradigm is one that enjoins us all as
mammals, primates and human beings. Games and board games by inference can
ignite the mind by appealing to our innate sense of the fantastical or
whimsical, allowing our thoughts to travel deep into the extraordinary beyond
the mundanity of life.
Are Board Games a mirror of life?
For me, a good game tells a
story. They can be a kind of interactive book that uses diverse media, and a
mix of components and rules to tell a tale. The rules define the universe where
the game’s story will take place and the components coupled with good rule
execution bring the game to life.
I feel disappointed when what
could be a great game is accompanied by a sub-standard ruleset that lacks
clarity and is difficult to understand. It is like encountering a poorly
crafted story; even if the underlying plot is intriguing, the journey to grasp
it becomes tangled in unclear language and a confusing order of presentation.
In a way, the act of engaging in
any sort of play does reflect life to some degree. In order to illustrate this
idea I would like you to imagine life itself as being a game of backgammon.
Backgammon is an intriguing game which comes down to us from earlier ancestors
played as far back as 5000 years ago in Mesopotamia and Persia.
Modern Backgammon is a game of
strategy but also a game of luck. Players take their turns to roll dice and
move their pieces around a board towards their respective home areas. Once all
pieces reach their respective home area, the player may then proceed to bear them off using precise dice rolls.
The first player to bear off all their gaming pieces wins.
Yet there are so many aspects to
this game. To begin with, the modern distribution of the 15 identical game
pieces is quite specific with two of the pieces starting off deep within the
opponent’s home area. This in itself poses one of the games main challenges.
Backgammon is also a game of many faces and many stages as we shall now see.
At the start of a match, it is a
game of waiting and weighing opportunities. Players will contend for key spots
(or points as they are also called) around the board. The actions taken may be
simple blocking tactics at first but they could well evolve into well executed
tactical strikes aimed at knocking an opponent’s pieces temporarily off the
board. The closer opposing pieces get, toward the middling part of the game,
the more the blocks and strikes will become, as either player seeks the path
that will lead all his or her pieces home and off the board.
So what we end up looking at is a
game that evolves as it progresses from patient observation and calculation, to
tentative or tactical blocking and striking to ultimately optimising the end
game which in most cases can be construed as a race to the finish.
Is this not the essence of most
of our endeavours in life? We establish objectives and allocate resources,
carefully observing the context in which we operate before taking action. In a
subsequent phase, we progress toward our goals, jockeying to secure advantageous
positions that may ensure our success while eliminating any circumstances that
could impede our advancement.
As we approach our ultimate
objective, having addressed all obstacles and secured a favourable starting
position, we proceed with our plan, maintaining focus on the final goal. Once
we execute the tail end of our strategy, it is typically time to reset the
board and embark on the process anew. Although the goals and means to achieve
them may differ, the fundamental nature of each endeavour undertaken remains
unchanged.
Facing off with reality
So for a person like me, that
sees so much value in board games, I find it quintessentially difficult to
comprehend why others may not share this same passion to some degree. It is not
that I expect any person who falls under the banner of “board gamer” to like
all the board games they come across or to hold an appreciation for the
diversity that we are now presented with. Yet I do expect them to at least
understand the spirit that attracts us to this hobby.
There are certain board games
that have achieved an unparalleled level of prestige over time, and modern
chess is one of them. This game has experienced significant transformations
throughout its history, beginning as the Indian game Chaturanga and evolving to
include the powerful Queen piece, a hybrid of the Rook and Bishop, during the
15th century. Chess represents a distilled form of strategic play,
characterised by its symmetry, especially in the opening phases. It is a game
of complete information, and its rules have been universally embraced across
the globe.
I wanted to highlight chess
because, despite its rich history and widespread recognition, some people still
view it as a trivial pastime—something to engage in only when there’s nothing
else to do. This perspective is unfortunate!
Life presents us with various
stressors, whether at work or at home. Taking the time to step back, slow down,
and enjoy a few hours of chess (or any other board game for that matter) can be
incredibly beneficial. The advantages of disconnecting for a while far outweigh
any potential downsides of taking that break.
As far as I am concerned, board
games serve as a profound source of mental rejuvenation, tranquillity, as well
as a connection to a community of like-minded individuals. They provide not
only entertainment but also a sanctuary where I can escape the stresses of
daily life. Whenever I find myself feeling disheartened or directionless, I am
reassured by the knowledge that engaging in a few rounds of my favourite board
games will uplift my spirits.
The intricate mechanics and
thoughtful strategies involved in gameplay often lead to unexpected moments of
inspiration. As I engage with the carefully crafted turns of play, I may
discover a spark of creativity or an innovative solution to a lingering problem,
emerging from the depths of my own psyche. Ultimately, board games are much
more than just another hobby; I believe that they are vital tools for personal
growth and emotional well-being.
