Game Night: the obsession, the glory, the lack of Monopoly

On any given Friday (or sometimes Saturday) night Ryan and I can be found at a little event called: game night. It's when us and some friends get together and play games. What games you ask? Well that's the fun part to answer, because I'm guessing you haven't heard of half of them. I say that because when I started going to game night, I had no idea how to play 3/4's of the games. This is not your average Monopoly, Scrabble or Clue, this is true blue (mostly German, for some reason) gaming with strategy, unique concepts, and great titles.

To help explain I'm going to go over my top 3 favorite games that we play.
Current First: Seven Wonders

At the heart of it, it's a game involving cards you pass around. These cards are split up into three stages. Various strategies can be implemented to get points, and you want points because the person with the most points wins. You start out as an ancient city, say Babylon, and that city has some special "powers" it gives you. During each age you "build" cards, and the cards you build may be affected by which city you are. It's very addicting. It's also one of Ryan's favorites.

Second: Ticket to Ride (America)

I say America because there are so many versions of Ticket to Ride that it's practically a Disney movie. This game is simple. You have destinations on tickets and you build them with trains. You build trains by getting corresponding colored cards to whatever track you want to build. America is the easiest because you actually know where the towns are. When we play Europe I always have to look up the Russian cities, and don't even get me started on Germany.


Third (and finally for now), the all time most awesome classic: Betrayal at the House on the Hill

This is a great picture because it shows the different cards, the player card (see the girl in the right corner on the pentagon shaped thing? yeah that's it), and the house tiles. I'm not even going to explain this game. Just go buy it and be amazed. It's recently been re-released so it's way cheaper than it used to be.

There is an entire group of people out there who are geeky enough to buy $50 German games and play them. I didn't even know any of this existed until I moved here. Now I'm hooked, and I didn't think I would be. I tried to resist. I figured once I found something better to do with my time I would stop going. But I keep going. Because I want to play Ticket to Ride again, or I want to try a different strategy in Seven Wonders. It's oddly addicting.

So while Ryan gloats in his corner because he got me into his addiction, I can honestly say that while I never thought I would join him, I'm glad I did. In a a world of ipads, facebook and google+, I have found a non-technological way to interact with people, and that, is a feat in itself.

If you ever need some recommendations for going outside the Monopoly box, just give me call, send us a message, drop us a line. We'll set you up for a game you have never heard of, but you will be sure to enjoy.