Playing Board Games Is Like Watching Sports

While attending College there were two groups of people who I ran with. One group was incredibly nerdy. They would talk about comic books, play video games, build Lego structures, and play card and board games. The nerds all lived in one house, affectionately called The Nerdery while the other group lived in another house.

Although I didn’t live at the Nerdery, I spent much of my College life there. The Nerdery introduced me to strategic German Board games. Strategic German Board games, also called euros, mitigate the amount of luck involved in the game. By doing this, a more experienced player has an advantage over the neophyte. The more you play these games, the better you get at playing them.

As a kid my parents never played board games with me. So as soon as one of these games was pulled out, I was immediately drawn to it. I had a hole which needed filling.

Like many board gamers, Settlers of Catan and Axis and Allies were my gateway games. Although these games introduced me to the hobby, I have moved on from these inferior games to much better games.

I now own over 200 board games.

Board games Connect You Like Sports

The other house would bond over sports. They would watch baseball and football, but really bonded over car races. Rally racing in particular.

I don’t find watching sports on television interesting. I find it is a huge time suck, incredibly uninteresting, and mindless. The only time I found watching sports interesting was the one year I participated in a fantasy sports league. In the same year I joined a fantasy soccer league and a fantasy football league.

This made watching sports enjoyable because I was attempting to solve a puzzle. I was attempting to maximize my winnings.

However, I don’t find watching sports on television enjoyable. When I’m done, I don’t feel like I’ve learned or accomplished anything. I don’t feel that I’ve grown in any way. There are other things I do, like watching movies, which don’t allow me to grow as a person either. Both movies and sports give people a way to connect by having a framework for conversation.

But, watching movies doesn’t bind me to people the way sports fans are bound. Board games do.

When I get together with other board gamers we have a language that is our own and talking to people about board games gives me a similar experience to the way sports fans talk to each other.

Non-Computer Related Hobbies

Since I was a kid I knew I would work with computers. Upon graduating from College, I realized I had no hobbies which didn’t involve computers or technology. It took me 25 years to realize however that if a computer wasn’t involved I didn’t care. Even the fiction I read involved computers.

I’ve always understood that hobbies involving computers were important to employers, but I think hobbies not involving computers are fundamental to being a more rounded person. They allow you to decompress and relax your mind. However, I still want to do something intellectually stimulating. To me, board games are the perfect solution.