My earliest recollection of playing board games was with my family which was around middle school. I recall getting a brand new board game called Monopoly from my aunt who visited the United States. Unfortunately, Monopoly didn’t come in a box as I guess taking a large rectangle box across customs must have been a chore. They extracted the components and placed inside a brownish, nondescript box which didn’t completely fit the overflowing contents. Nonetheless, I remembered being overjoyed with the gift and looked forward to many fine gaming sessions with my family. Alas, that never really materialized. I remembered a few fun sessions gaming in our bedroom and that was that. I do not have any epic memories of playing Monopoly with anyone else. Truth be told, the idea of gaming with my Mom and Dad was so out of character for them that it was never going to happen. My folks were pretty strict Asian parents and outside of academics, I don’t think they cared much about anything else, much less playing games with their kids. Perhaps in their minds, gaming is a child’s activity. Hence, while I played many games outdoors, I barely have any memory of playing board games at home. However, I always knew I would enjoy gaming. Growing up, my cousin owned a copy of Axis and Allies and every time we went to visit, I would peer into their cabinet and pull out the game to fiddle with the components. Oddly enough, I never ended up playing Axis and Allies with him partly because of our age gap. These days, my cousin is also a gamer and I ended up gifting him a copy of Twilight Struggle, which I think is his favorite.

Fast forward a few years and I am now in college. My reintroduction to gaming started with role playing. My room mates enjoyed D&D and we would spend our weekends gaming in the confines of our living room. Since D&D has a tactical battle map, it is also part board game. Yes, the narrative arc is longer, but the spatial elements of the game always lured me in and I found that part of the game most challenging and fun. Oddly enough, we never ventured anywhere near board games. I think this may be due to one of my D&D buddies being visually impaired. D&D was a perfect game for him as far as the story telling goes. We had discovered a game where all of us could enjoy.

My first taste of gaming, Euro gaming that is, came during graduate school. Must be one of those dreary New Jersey summer days when my friend John suggested a game night. John was also a D&D fan, but also had some exposure to playing Euro games. This was back in early 2000s’ and the new Hans im Gluck Euros just hit the American shores via Rio Grande Games. I distinctly remembered the crowded room in John’s apartment as the 6 or 7 of us sat down in the dining room table and pulled out……. Munchkin! *gasp* I know….I know, a 6p Munchkin is an insane way to be introduced to gaming. It is arguable if Munchkin even is a Euro (it’s not). Nonetheless, we had a blast going back and forth backstabbing each other as we kicked down the door, killed and looted monsters. To this day, I still think fondly of Munchkin and have less hatred of the game than my fellow Euro gamers. However, I don’t think I have played another game of Munchkin since that first session. After Munchkin, we played my first bona fide Euro: Carcassonne. I not only enjoyed the game, but was really intrigued by how a simple tile laying game could be so clever and different. My eyes were opened and my mind was blown. I clearly remembered the feeling of awe at the game and wanted more, SO much more.

That gaming session in graduate school unleashed the beast in me. I became enamored with board gaming. I would read up and researched games on BoardGameGeek. This was in the heyday when the site was just established and the threads were all on Euro gaming. My first purchase from a local gaming store in New Jersey was Uwe Rosenberg’s Bohnanza and Guillotine. I still have Bohnanza. My first large order purchase online was with Game Surplus and the order included Amun Re and Attika. I still own both games as well and continue to rate them highly. Back then, the games that reached the American shores weren’t many and Hans im Gluck games started to reach our stores via the efforts of Jay Tummelson and Rio Grande Games. My gaming world certainly revolved heavily around RGG as I occasionally get ding and dent games from them cheap or free. They were extremely generous. From there, my collection grew and expanded by trading games on BGG using the Trade Chains which were precursors of the Math Trade.

We all have our stories on how we got into gaming. For most of us, it is a memorable occasion and I have certainly done my part in introducing gaming to others. Hopefully, they will do the same for others as we all help to grow the hobby.

Long live board gaming!