When did you start board gaming?

Coming from a small town (and it being the 70's and 80's) there weren't many gaming opportunities until I discovered play by mail with the old Missing Tiger, then on to Diplomacy where I uncovered my true nerd.

A long period of Magic playing was about the extent of my regular FTF gaming.

Then a hiatus while I concentrated on women, marriage and then our own children (and of course BigFooty) - and the explosion of 3D FPS and strategy games like Starcraft - meant I didn't do any real amount of FTF gaming for years.

Now another parent from my son's school has got me interested in board games again and my sons are reaping the benefits as I have started buying board games for them - Catan Junior, Rampage and half a dozen others. They are hooked.

We've got a group running through Risk:Legacy and meet ups at a friend's place for full game days where we play a big range of games (Dominion, one about Camelot?, Ticket to Ride and so on) and lament about not getting laid in high school.

EDIT: Forgot about the semi-regular Axis & Allies nights we had in Uni. I never won a single game and was the pariah nobody wanted to team up with. Unbelievable, but true.


What about you?
 
Last edited:

SnowRoo

Premiership Player
Feb 2, 2011
3,731
5,085
Berwick
AFL Club
North Melbourne
Sounds quite similar, i started with things like canasta with my grandmother on to Pay Day and Game of life with childhood friends.

Late teens was onto Shadowrun, Illuminati and yes the friend destroyer Diplomacy as well.

Early 20's was Magic the gathering running a games night for it at the local laser tag centre.

Enter Women, Children, World of Warcraft (arg)

Now recently i accidentally got bumped back into the hobby after a friend sent me a link to a tabletop episode.

A few hundred $$$ later and a lot of research ive got a good collection going, have the GF and her kids playing and am really enjoying a localish game group EGF.

Such an awesome hobby im glad im back into it.
 
Hmm Chief that friend of yours sounds like a great guy. You should give him things. Money, games, beer. Those sorts of things.

I always liked the traditional board games as a kid and had a big extended family to play with, but I actually got hooked on WW2 tactical minis battles when I was 14 or so and then got into the old Avalon Hill wargames. This paralleled falling in with the D&D crowd in my high school and getting into that in a big way. I spent pretty much anything I made on wargames and D&D until I went to uni in my early 20s where the concerns of life and my growing video games interest took over.

I had mates who played tabletop games in my 20s and we dabbled with 40K and other Games Workshop games but it's hard to get laid when you have a shelf full of minis. We also dabbled in Magic TG (still have those cards somewhere) and other CCGs.

I got back into tabletop gaming hard when D&D 4th Edition was released and I had a regular group to game with. Boardgames became the filler of the nights we couldn't prep or get the full group together for D&D and it exploded to the point where I try and host a big game day at least twice a year and play 'something' at least once a fortnight. I'm also dragging my kids in, one kicking and screaming and one with some enthusiasm.

Current games: Pathfinder Adventure Card Game; Lords of Waterdeep; Love Letter; Takenoko
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #4
Sounds quite similar, i started with things like canasta with my grandmother
500 with my grandmother - many a time I was the subject of a withering tirade at my inability to remember cards. I was 10.

I don't THINK she really meant it when she came out with sayings like "you ought to be shot with a ball of your own poop!"

At least I hope not.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Admin
  • #5
Hmm Chief that friend of yours sounds like a great guy. You should give him things. Money, games, beer. Those sorts of things.
Indeed. Yes. Indeed.

Keys to the house on Bribie might sweeten the deal.
 

fleabitten

Norm Smith Medallist
Feb 16, 2012
5,854
10,715
AFL Club
Richmond
Other Teams
Portland Trailblazers
When I was about 10 or 11 (mid eighties), before my older cousin started attempting to molest me, he used to let me play his war games. Avalon Hill stuff mostly. After the attempted molestation, I stole several of the games and would play them solo or sometimes I'd manage to convince a friend to give it a go (minus my cousin's "special rules"). I also stole all his D&D books.

By the time I was 17 or so, most of my attention went to basketball, rap music and boobs and the board games collected dust for a decade or two and I'm just getting back into it again now.
 
I played HeroQuest with a friend way back in primary school in the late 80s and early 90s, but unlike a lot of people I never made the jump from there into Warhammer, or into much more board gaming, and missed out on games like Catan and MTG when I was in school, to the relief of my financiers I'm sure. Picked it up again when Wil Wheaton's Tabletop started on youtube, and I was looking for things to watch while riding an exercise bike. Worked out well.
 
Sep 16, 2005
21,140
13,327
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
GO YOU CROW BOYS
As a whipper snapper see did the standard card games, monopoly, trivial pursuit, risk, chess, checkers etc. Backgammon with the folks a bit as well.

Teenage years video games amped up. Loved rpgs most. Esp party based games to satisfy my jack of all trades needs. Curse if the azure bonds etc back on c64. Baldurs gate and similar on pc. Nwn (and just on my jack of all trades needs - i played through the single player campaign with a pally/monk/sorc. Buff up, throw fireball, run into combat with a honking great sword... and no armor). Had brief flirtations with ftf dnd but I lived to far from school mates for it to be easy to sustain outside school hours.

Adult years consisted of mostly video gaming at first. Got into a few MMORGPs as well (Dark Age of Camelot in particular getting a huge time sink.. moved to WoW later but never hit end game with enough time to play as I did with DAOC). Then started meeting buddies at work who played European style board games (amongst others). Roborally a huge favourite for killing a saturday or two (not during footy season obviously...), Settlers of Catan become a quick favourite also. Spent a bit of time playing 'Go', even had a game setup at work between the desks of me and one of my main gaming mates. I headed OS for 4 years after the end of my first marriage. Played a bit of online stuff - play by post role playing LotR style. But mainly kept things like Wow chugging along. That was until I found bigfooty in 2005... ;)

Got back to Oz in 2008 with new partner and 4 month old baby.. Since then tabletop gaming has become one of the main hobbies. Got a core group that gets together once a month for a night of gaming. Squeeze myself into another group run by the guys who setup and made a stack of money from Ratbag Software. One of the ex-owners bought a ton of games as a tax write off... we are still opening shrinkwrap games most sessions. Even had one kick off gaming night at my consultancy which hopefully grows.

The missus is on board which is fantasic and means we can host most times -> getting kids to bed before we start is getting harder but getting them into games as well now which is great. 5 or 6 years it will pay off in spades ;) Christmas and Birthday presents everyone just gets me games now - love it.

Some of the favourites:
Settles of Catan and expansions -> don't play as much now but was huge for years.
Dominion and expansions -> probably still need a few years of christmases to get the lot ;)
Pathfinder Adventure Card game -> this is our monthly favourite at present. Trying to squeeze in as often as I can ;)
Seven Wonders
Puerto Rico
Galaxy Truckers - fantastic game for its point of difference. Imagine a jigsaw puzzle race... that's a key component of this game. So different and a ton of fun.
Tons more obviously.

Also running:
Pathfinder module on-line using obsidianportal.com
Got a few games ticking over on pr-game.com (play by email puerto rico)
Got a few games ticking over on http://civ.rol-play.com/index.php (advanced civilisation - play by email)
 
Sep 16, 2005
21,140
13,327
Adelaide
AFL Club
Adelaide
Other Teams
GO YOU CROW BOYS
I played HeroQuest with a friend way back in primary school in the late 80s and early 90s, but unlike a lot of people I never made the jump from there into Warhammer, or into much more board gaming, and missed out on games like Catan and MTG when I was in school, to the relief of my financiers I'm sure. Picked it up again when Wil Wheaton's Tabletop started on youtube, and I was looking for things to watch while riding an exercise bike. Worked out well.
Haha.. was thinking of tagging you over here rabbit.

We played 'Fiasco' the other night. (one of Will's tabletop episodes covers it.. seen it?)
Was a ton of fun, we just lack a bit of role playing experience to close out well... some still playing to win as opposed to playing for the fiasco ;)
 
Sep 28, 2007
3,703
1,347
Parts Unknown
AFL Club
Collingwood
Other Teams
Redskins,NUFC, Bruins, Rays,Gumbies
I started out with monopoly and mouse trap, etc. When I was 11 I saw dungeons and dragons in the red box on a shelf and brought it, had noone to play with, but read those 2 books cover to cover countless times :D. Then I saw Hero Quest in a toy shop before my 13th birthday and I HAD to have it. saved all my coin from my birthday to buy it, its still a good game. Didnt have anyone to play boardgames or RPGs with in my later teens and such so didnt for long time. About 3 years back found a gaming group not far from myself so have been regular RPGing and boardgaming which is awesome.
 

lamaros

Norm Smith Medallist
Oct 15, 2007
7,247
3,064
Sydney
AFL Club
Essendon
Perhaps there's call for a sticky thread listing game meetup groups in the various states?

I know of most of the ones in Vic and NSW if people might find it useful.
 
I played HeroQuest with a friend way back in primary school
I had that game - I think maybe it was swallowed up by the myriad nephews and nieces at some point. Things like that had a way of disappearing and turning up years later completely destroyed.
 
What's the problem with it?

It doesn't have any memory, and I'm too lazy to go through and expand every branch every time

I had that game - I think maybe it was swallowed up by the myriad nephews and nieces at some point. Things like that had a way of disappearing and turning up years later completely destroyed.

Mine has some self inflicted damage, otherwise it's never left my possession and is intact. Fortunate that I have no nieces, nephews or children to break my stuff.
 
Oct 2, 2007
42,479
42,021
Perth
AFL Club
Carlton
Basic DnD started with the Blue Expert boxed set in around 1984.

From there AD&D, Rolemaster, Car Wars, Spacemaster, Shadowrun, Star Wars and pretty much everything else.

Currently playing (GMing) Pathfinder weekly.

Never did CCGs. Although have had a few Warhammer and 40k armies over the years.
 
Nov 3, 2006
13,556
9,376
Here
AFL Club
Carlton
Mine started probably when i was 10 or 11. Magic the Gathering and Necromunda is where it all started out pretty much.

Just started to get back into board games in the past few years, bought a heap and try play as regularly as possible. In the past few months started Necromunda up again as well with a couple of mates, hard to find people to play against now though, but still as fun as ever!
 
Oct 2, 2007
42,479
42,021
Perth
AFL Club
Carlton
Mine started probably when i was 10 or 11. Magic the Gathering and Necromunda is where it all started out pretty much.

Just started to get back into board games in the past few years, bought a heap and try play as regularly as possible. In the past few months started Necromunda up again as well with a couple of mates, hard to find people to play against now though, but still as fun as ever!

One of the best all time games from GW.

Seriously that game rocks!
 
Sep 3, 2002
28,579
37,619
Adelaide
AFL Club
Port Adelaide
Euro gaming I was introduced to 2 - 3 years ago. Now my wife and I are big fans. I enjoy D&D, but don't really play it. I have around 15 1st and 2nd edition rule books. For D&D always been a Forgotten Realms fan and have around 15 D&D rule books, several adventures and a few box sets from the Realms (built up over many years). Along with around 150 Forgotten Realms novels to go with the more epic fantasy like A Song of Ice and Fire. Live is so much better now that Geeks aren't disdained by all and sundry.
 

Goodo73

Premium Platinum
Apr 13, 2009
2,347
1,576
Melbourne
AFL Club
Hawthorn
Other Teams
LA Lakers
According to the Tabletop Wikipedia page, they got the funds they were after in less than a week!

On April 5, 2014, Wil Wheaton announced the launch of a campaign on Indiegogo to fund the creation of a third season: the target amount was $500,000. On April 10, 2014, the amount pledged passed the target.

According to WW's initial announcement, $500K would mean they could do 15 episodes; $750K would mean 20.
 
Back