Introduction

As of the 27th of this month, 2 Generations Gaming will be 10 years old. We’ve written 772 posts (this makes 773), released 93 podcast episodes, and recorded a bunch of videos. That’s an awful lot of talking to ourselves. And yet, I continue to write and record. In fact, I have the final 3 episodes of the Poppy War waiting to be recorded this week. In addition, I want to start recording the daily YouTube video again starting next month. As a result I need to put together the new overlay. In the meantime, this month I want to celebrate games. Today, tabletop games of the past.

Board Games

Growing up, we played mostly the classic board games. I remember Monopoly, Yahtzee, Uno, and those types of games. I can’t remember if any other board games existed at the time. I imagine that none of the modern types of games ever crossed my path if they even existed. Games like Ticket to Ride, Catan, or the cooperative games that we’ve played as a family. But, I need to save that for the “present” article.

I think that my favorite game depended on the company. I remember playing Rummikub with my grandmother and cousins. With my parents and brothers, I remember mostly Yahtzee and Uno with some Monopoly, Sorry, and sometimes Othello and Chess. Then, I also have distinct memories of playing Yahtzee with a cousin on my mother’s side. If pressed, I’d have to say that Othello is my favorite game as a kid.

Magic the Gathering

Magic the Gathering came much later in life. The game released in 1993, the year that I graduated high school and went to college. I found a small group of guys who knew about the game and introduced me. We played semi-regularly until I dropped out of school. After moving out to Massachusetts, I bought a box of Ice Age cards and kept a collection with some decks. I tried to teach Christine using Portal decks during our trip to Disneyland, but it didn’t take at the time. Then, I met Chris, we started hanging out and discovered that we both had a history with the game. That led to several epic kitchen table battles that continue to this day.

Role Playing Games

You know this story. My mother bought me a Dragonlance Novel. I mistakenly, for much of the book, read it as the Eleven nations, not the Elven nations. In either case, the book hooked me and got me interested in the game. My friends and I played weekly in the basement of one of my friends like the dorks from Stranger Things. I kept the game going with one friend in particular for a couple of years.

I also combined my love for Marvel comics and role playing games by picking up this little gem when I saw it in the book store. I actually enjoyed this one more than Dungeons and Dragons in a lot of ways. But, the rest of the group didn’t agree, so I mostly just made characters and played a few games with the friend mentioned earlier.

Similar to board games, I never branched out to play games other than these two. Only since starting the page and having kids did I learn about the other games and try them out. But, as I said earlier, I’ll talk more about that next week.

The Verdict

I wanted this month to be a celebration of my time in gaming. 10 years is a long time to keep anything going. I’m proud of what I’ve done here even if it hasn’t led to fame on the internet. I’ll keep on keeping on and hope that you enjoyed my travels with tabletop games of the past.