5 Signs Your Kids Might Be Growing Up Gamers!

by Angie

Here's a few ideas we had for how you might be able to tell if your kids are getting adequate geekery in their lives and are properly developing as little gamers....

1. Your kid has a sketchbook is full of game design ideas.. complete with components breakdown!

Katie's "list" of components for prototyping her new game "Sea"

 2. Your daugther wanders away at the grocery store to find a comfy place to read a game catalog and make sure you aren't missing any upcoming releases

Apparently the beer aisle is both "cool" and relaxing

3. Your little one gives tactical advice to your wargame opponent about your weaknesses and comes up with a winning move!

Katie and Bodhi kickin' my booty at Memoir 44

4. Your kids get up before you to sneak into the gameroom and play games together without you and your silly "rules"

Jack telling Katie "this how you do it!"

5. Your daughter's dream-come-true craft projects are to paint plaster wizards and Warmachine minis with Dad

Can we paint minis today Dad, please? Please?

At ages 2 and 5 our kids have fully embraced our gaming lifestyle. They listen to gaming podcasts with me, never ever turn down an invitation to play a game, and Katie even asked if we could go on a family trip to a gaming convention this summer. What evidence do you have that your gamer training is paying off with the little ones? Are they growing up gamers too? We'd love to hear from you!

Our First Guest: Uncle Rob!

As we've said before, we are a family of gamers. Today we have a surprise for you... a guest appearance by Angie's Uncle Rob; her first Dungeon master, lifelong gaming buddy, and all-around cool guy. Katie adores her "Uncle 'ob", he's always been an important part of our lives and we're excited to share this post about his favorite game. But first, a cute nostalgic picture from the archives to set the scene:

Rob and Angie, around the time he first taught me D&D (1985ish)

My favorite game....

by Rob

A few weeks ago I promised Katie-bird that I would write a short post about my favorite game and at the time I'm sure I was thinking about the game that I am currently enjoying very much: Lord of the Rings Online. But upon reflection of my life-long love affair with games I have came to realize that my current favorite game is not even close to my all time favorite game. Why? Well for one thing its not the game I like as much as it is my love of Tolkien's lore and the chance to dynamically experience Middle-earth, a world that I have been in love with since first reading The Hobbit some 35 years ago. I mean, I have been aware of MMO's since the early days, I have tried EQ, WoW and the others and because I have no interest or investment in the lore of those worlds I never played beyond the free trials. If you took LotRO and changed the story and stripped it of its Tolkien influence, I would drop the game in a heart beat - so how could that be my favorite game?

So what is my favorite game? I am very tempted to award that dubious distinction to Dungeons and Dragons, which was after all such a big part of my teen and young adult life. I have very fond memories of all the time me and my brother Dave, spent designing dungeons and role-playing each other through those grand adventures . I can still see the delight and wonder of my wide-eyed niece, nephews and children as i ran them through their firsts adventures. But if you asked me to play it today - I would probably decline. Even though I occasionally consider picking up the dice and books and playing it again, It justs takes so much effort and investment of time that I just don't think I can make that much of commitment of my life as it exists today. So how could that be my favorite game?

What game would I play without hesitation every time I was asked? That certainly must be my favorite game - right?

Well – maybe, and maybe not.

For example, me and my son Bryan are currently involved in a chess tournament, I'm not really that good and he beats me most of the time (which of course is followed up with much gloating, humiliation and shame) but i drop everything and play him 2 or 3 games every time he visits home and asks for a game. But chess is not my favorite game and I hate to lose.

So maybe its pinochle, or spite and malice. Card games that I would play anytime, anywhere, anyplace. as long as its with my family - no. can't be because, honestly - I really hate pinochle.

So what could it be?

Well from these examples I'm starting to see a trend. Sure there are games that stimulate my intellectual curiosities and rev-up my imagination into overdrive, there are games that challenge me. And there are games that drive me bananas, Some games are just fun to play. Some, not so much, but the thing that really drives me is the time that I shared with my friends and family - I cant say the word "pinochle" with-out being flooded by a thousand and one memories of all the good times I have shared with my family playing that stupid game. D&D was all about sharing time and ideas with my best bro in the world and later sharing those experiences with my nieces and nephews and then much later my children. Beyond the Lore of Tolkien what really gets me to log on to LotRO is the time I share with my bro in that game - time and miles might separate us but through that game we are instantly 12 again and it is as if nothing ever changed. And even though we don't always play together we are both just a /send tell away.

So Katie - here's the short post I promised...

My Favorite game...

Is the one that I am going to play with you.

Love ya

Uncle 'ob



Katie and Uncle Rob's first game: impersonating each other (July 2006)



Gaming Goals for 2011

Resolutions and a glimpse at the future...

'Tis the season for reflection, introspection, and looking ahead. In the spirit of the season, we decided to post our gaming goals and hopes for the upcoming year, and outline some games we're hoping to play in the next year. We thought it might give you all some insight into what we are thinking about, and also might help us to have something to be "accountable" to and refer back to as the year progresses. Without further ado, here's our goals for 2011!

Katie's Goals:

1. Play harder and harder games, and learn new ones all the time. Like games that are even harder than Settlers of Catan.

2. Learn to read while I’m playing games, especially hard ones. To play the toughest games you have to be able to read, so I’m practicing

3. Play 100 different games with my family.

Games I’m excited to try out this year:

Monsters Menace America, Mississippi Queen, RoboRally, Runebound

 Jack's Goals:

1. Dice!

2. Cards!

3. Un-hunh! Yep.

4. Robot!

Randy's Goals:

Ah, 2011... what will you hold for me? I don't have a lot of gaming hopes, but I think that they're pretty significant. First, 2010 unfortunately had very few roleplaying sessions for me. One hope for 2011 is to play in either a Pathfinder or D&D 3.5 campaign. Yup, I've been missing it. Pathfinder's Advanced Player's Guide has whetted my appetite for that. Additionally, I would like to in either Burning Wheel, Savage Worlds, Mouse Guard, d20 Modern or Shadowrun campaign. Something different. As for board games, I'm making my goal helping Katie fulfil her goal. 100 different games in a year? That girl has ambition! I'm looking forward to that.

 And I have another goal... getting my own game finished and ready for publication. I've had a card game in the works for a couple years. I made a playtestable copy about three years ago, and I (as well as Angie and Julian) thought it was pretty fun. It just wasn't ready yet. I shelved it to work on another project collaboratively that ultimately didn't get very far, and since then I have pulled it out every now and then to tweak some mechanics, make some drawing for cards or add some text. Now, I'm itching to make it something. I'm not going to expand on it right now, but it's a wild west shootup with a quirky theme. I'll share more later.

Angie's Goals:

1. Have a monthly family-friendly board game night, rotating between families. We've been talking about it for a while (you know who you are!), let’s get it going!

2. Start and maintain a regular weekly family board game night with my kid(s). We decided on Wednesday nights, so I'm excited to see this through and get a regular thing going that we can all look forward to. A mid-week pick-me-up and opportunity for us all to focus on family time and not the hectic nature of our typical everyday life. At least for long enough to get a game or two in.

3. Help Katie reach her goal of playing different 100 games. Does anyone know how to put a counter on our blogger page so we can keep track online?

4. Find a game I can play with Jack, and teach it to him. Any ideas?

5. Keep reading and writing about games (books, articles, blog posts). Figure out a way to actually get people to reply to our blog posts and get more involved… (wink wink nudge!)

On the horizon- What we hope to be playing this year:

New games we would love to play in 2011 (A.K.A. Angie's Wishlists....)

Board/Card Games: 7 Wonders, Sid Meyers Civilization: The Boardgame (the Fantasy Flight Version), Innovation, Puzzle Strike: Bag of Chips, Alien Frontiers, Dominant Species, Earth Reborn,  Yomi: The Complete First Edition

Video Games:  Little Big Planet 2, Mass Effect 3, Dragon Age 2, Pokemon Black/White, Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Portal 2,  Paper Mario 3DS, Sly Cooper 4 (no release date, I’m just wishing…)

As a final 2010 bonus...

Angie's 5 Random Board Game “Top 5” Lists for the upcoming year:

1. Games I missed and hope to try: Battleground Fantasy Warfare, Railways of the World Card Game, Summoner Wars, Steam, Dixit

2. Loooong games I want to get played: Le Havre (with new unplayed expansion!), Descent, War of the Ring (and new unplayed expansion!), Twilight Imperium (3^rd Ed), Duel of Ages

3. Games I want to play more of: Galaxy Trucker (don’t own this one, Julian will have help out!), Space Alert, Agricola (and expansions!), Glory to Rome, Through the Ages

4. New-ish (to us) games that need table time: Grind, Mtg: Archenemy, Memoir 44 expansions, Starcraft, Battlestar Galactica

5. Games that might deserve a 2^nd chance: Evo, Keythedral, Torres, At the Gates of Loyang, Nexus Ops

You may here more about these topics and games from us in the future, feel free to ask questions or talk up any of these games or lists. Also, I would love to play these games with YOU, so if you're local and interested, drop me a line!

That's All Folks!

Thanks for reading our blog, we'd love to hear from you. We know you're out there, so post a comment would ya? Share your ideas and opinions, ask questions, suggest topics, or just let us know you're there! Thanks!

Also, check out a personal list of "gaming wishes" for the upcoming year from our fellow gaming blogger Julian at Cool Factor 5. This is another in the series of challenge posts I keep talking about, and I'm always excited to see how differently the same topic list manifests on these two blogs. It's something we're planning to continue into the new year, maybe with some new twists and surprises added in. :)

Happy New Year from our family to yours!