Nix's Notes: Board Game Addictus

Sometime in August 2010, we invited our usual "movie night" friends over to our home for "game night". This is more or less the same group of friends we'd been hanging out with for over a decade or so, and it was with this gaggle of geeky rock music-loving artists that we began the new hobby of playing board games. It was supposed to be just another way for us to get together and do stuff we all liked. But, little did we know that it would turn us into...something else.

Carcassonne "meeples"

Truth be told, when it all started, we really just wanted to play simple board games with not a lot of rules, twists, and turns. Plus, game night usually started past 9 P.M. Add to that a lot of food and booze, so our brain cells went to happy hour and almost didn't come back. But, everything changed by the third game night in late November 2010. Our game master came lugging a huge blue box labeled Carcassonne. We tackled it gingerly but eagerly; its numerous and specific rules became better understood as the game progressed. And, as it became clearer to us, it started a new fire in us. It made us crave for more and often. It turned us into, yes, board game addicts.

Interestingly, this new addiction has also tightened our bond even more. It breathed new life into our friendships and drew us to each other with a deeper fondness. In fact, we even set aside an entire weekend in March and practically locked ourselves up in a relative's vacation house in Tagaytay just to play games. We brought so many games that each one of us double-tasked on games, e.g., figuring out how to solve one of the puzzles in the North pole version of Camouflage while playing Carcassonne at the same time.

Our growing tower of Cardus Addictus

Nowadays, some of us hang out and play games almost every week (some of us even do so on a daily basis). Our addiction was "worsened" by the convenience of playing games at almost every place we hang out in, thanks to the discovery of board games in card versions (A.K.A. "Cardus Addictus"). It started with my little boys. The latest craze at their school was playing the Uno card game. They learned it, got their dad to get them a deck, and then the damage was done...to our heads. Soon after getting the Uno cards, a friend introduced us to Monopoly Deal, which we taught to our circle of board game addicts. And, like wildfire, it consumed us all, leading us to discovering Boggle Slam, Cluedo Suspects, Game of Life Adventures, Cranium Cards, Pictureka! cards etc.

Playing board games will always be fun and relevant because they create a playroom where you can be as silly as you want. It's "live", as opposed to a video game. And, for a moment in time, you and a group of like-minded friends adhere to a unique set of rules that do not exist in the real world, which gives you a temporary yet memorable escape from the stress that is real life.