2.14: Game Room Rules - Rule #1

As if I don't already have unfinished multi-part posts, let's just start another one, one that will probably be 10 or more parts.  Awesome!  Little gaming this week, despite another effort to teach my brother Agricola--instead we played the "raise an enormous aluminum garage and use all day" game.  At least that's almost done; still, I'm beginning to thing that if we ever do teach David how to play Agricola, the world will come to an end.


I've been contemplating posting some "Rules of gaming" in my loft.  It started a couple years back with a great gift from my wife, a long frame with a antiqued game theme (more poker/checkers, but it still looks nice), and a poem that reads:

Game Room Rules
Welcome to the place where we like to play our games...
We want you to enjoy yourself, and we'll try to do the same.
Remember:
No cheating
No fighting
No Temper Tantrums Please!
Don't be a sore loser, and...
Don't brag too much if you win.
It's only a game, so just Have Fun!


I like the idea, though some days I read this and the rhyme seems a little awkward; while this espouses most of my gaming philosophy, I thought it would be better if it were rules that I expect people to follow.  Despite being thought of as a gaming tyrant by some (just read that as "most") of my family, I want people to play boardgames, and I want people to know that the games are there to be played.  Still, I don't want Captain Cheeto-Fingers messing the games up--I want the games to still be around years from now, especially as my daughters reach the age where they can enjoy them as well.

Sooooooo, I'll post these up here as I think of them.  I do have a vague idea of many of them in varying importance, so there will probably be some re-numbering as each one is added.  Anyhow, here we go...

Rule #1:  Have fun.

Alright, that's it for this week...

Not really, let's take a second to explain this.  This is absolutely Rule #1 (watch this bite me in the butt); all of my gaming starts with this.  Gaming is my primary hobby, and in every instance my goal is to have fun.  This may mean a pleasant beer & pretzel type game (no, I don't drink, and the only pretzels I like are the ones dipped in chocolate) during which we can socialize, or it may be a horribly conflict-ridden game where my opponents and I are bent on each others' plastic-y doom (if you're wondering, that is a plastic nuclear explosion in that picture).  Regardless, my goal is to enjoy the game and time with friends.

There will probably be competition, with my family there will probably be a lot of trash talk, but it's all in the spirit of fun, such that it enhances the experience.

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Sort of a short post this week, I'm really having trouble with hay fever; currently my face feels as if someone has pulled the skin a foot away and let it snap back into place.  No, it doesn't feel good.  And in case you were wondering, no I didn't miss a post last week.  You just didn't read it, and it made me so upset that I simply removed it entirely.  Thanks a lot.