Tuesday, December 03, 2013

3 Weeks to Christmas: Game Night

As a child, Adam dreamed of family game nights which rarely came to fruition either due to lack of interest or initiative. These days, Adam hosts a monthly game night that's now a "thing" after a year of persistently having fun. It's a potluck game night so you bring games and snacks to share. It's also been fun to learn about new games that would also make cool gifts. Here's the round up of new discoveries and old favorites thanks to adventurous game playing friends.

King of Toyko

You might not realize by looking at him, but Adam is really into super heroes, zombies and monsters. Our friends Zrian and Zbigail introduced us to King of Tokyo, a game pitting imaginary monsters with even more imaginary powers in an epic battle set in pretty much an imaginary Tokyo. Let me assure you that there's nothing culturally educational about this game. You will learn nothing about actual Tokyo, but it's fun nonetheless. Adam loved King of Tokyo so much, he promptly ordered his own set the next week so he could bring it his new toy to someone else's house. I've come to enjoy it myself and I especially like to make sound effects like, "whack whack" when my monster takes a "whack."

Ticket to Ride

I love this train building game because it's a perfect fit for my personality and it's right in my sweet spot. It's even sorta educational and it's definitely a ton of fun. We have the American version, but there's also an European version. I look forward to playing it every game night without fail.

I'm an ISTJ and if you're not familiar with Myers Briggs, let me break it down for you within a Ticket to Ride context.

Introvert: There's no trading and negotiating in this game which is perfect if you want to hang out with people, but maybe don't want to be chatty the entire time. Everyone has their own agenda, there's almost no cooperation and minimal interaction. I almost feel energized after a game of Ticket to Ride.

Sensing: Collecting train cards, building trains, building routes is all super tangible and detailed oriented. I love it!

Thinking: Successfully building a train route from LA to NYC requires a lot of forethought, deliberate planning and lots of opportunities to use the old noggin…quietly with little interaction.

Judgement: First step of this game is to decide which train routes you're going to build. Yipee! I know where I'm going and I have a tangible goal. I can measure my goal when I reach it and check it off my list.

Oh man, I really want to play Ticket to Ride now. Maybe I can persuade Adam to play with me.

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