This post was inspired by the book “What Board Games Mean to Me
Tales from the Tabletop” by Donna Gregory. Which I’m currently listening to on Audible.

Basically this is an anthology of short essays by the likes of Ian Livingstone, John Kovalic, Reiner Knizia, Geoff Steve Jackson, James Wallis, and many others. In which they write about how boardgames have impacted their life in one way or another.

I only got to listen to the first three or so essays on my drive over to Bury St Edmunds for a training course. But I liked what I listened to enough to think I should be sharing my story with the world.

Obviously the following words will not be so eloquent or inspirational as those in the book.

My childhood was the Seventies. Between such cool toys as Ricochet Racers, Evil Knievel action figures with stunt bikes, Six Million Dollar Man action figures, Action Man, Airfix kits, to name a few. We played the odd boardgame. The ones I remember (and owned) are Frustration, obviously Monopoly and Cluedo. As a little one Snakes and Ladders.

Our family did get caught up in the whole Trivia Pursuit craze when it first came out. I remember being good at the entertainment questions. What general knowledge did a kid have other than pop culture?

I loved Connect 4, still have my travel edition from back then. I was a machine at the game! My brother owned Downfall, which I enjoyed beating him at.

We also had Mastermind, Chinese Chequers, Solitaire (did I really play a solo game back then?). Every kid knew how to play chequers and chess. And our family was no different.

I only have ever played the “classic” Mouse Trap once in my life, and that was a cousins copy.

Pubs were a more social thing back then. Darts, dominoes, crib were played regularly by locals. I definitely played dominoes in the pub with Nan or others as a kid.

My teenage years were the Eighties. Less boardgames more video games. Which isn’t a surprise as like many the home computer boom was my start of a life long passion and the start of a career. However the digital route did bring me to ttrpgs such as D&D and MERP when I went to Brighton Poly. I played Trumps aka Knockout Whist a lot with my dad’s Aunt Joan when I used to visit her, and also during tutorials at secondary school. Top Trumps was also a thing, and I did own a few packs that I played with friends.

Plus I did have what would be considered a hobby game these days in the shape of the Judge Dredd board game that was released in the mid eighties. It was a no brainer purchase for me being a Judge Dredd fan.

To cut a long story short it wasn’t until I moved back to my home town in 2010 that I got into modern boardgames.

I was introduced to them by a friend who I worked with. Possibly the first one I purchased was the D&D Castle Ravenloft dungeon crawl.

It wasn’t long after that I bought more. My purchases were initially aimed at games I thought I could play with Nathan when I visited him. Until this point all I was for Nathan was a more random NPC when playing FIFA or Call of Duty. Both games I only played when I visited him. I was much more into played rpgs or RTS style games.

For me modern boardgames were and still are a way for me and Nathan to spend quality time together.

We both love playing them. Nathan has his favourites and a small collection.

It means so much for me that we share this time together, and that Nathan enjoys playing the games.