Current Mood:
Happy
So my little boardgame project seems to be taking off. For the past few weeks I have been making an attempt (with the help of Izzy), to organize a standing weekly gaming session, and it seems to be working out. I had originally discussed the idea with Izzy and had decided to wait until his return from Scottland before making an effort. However I played a game with two of Izzy’s friends - Ali Emre and Adnan - whom prodded me to start sooner than later, so I did. The first weekend was hectic and unorganized. We have 11 people show up and most people just hung out as I was locked in a game and couldn’t help new comers.
The second week was a sad showing. We had three people. Tahsin and I, who will be regulars every week (me because I am organizing it, and Tahsin because I don’t think he has anything better to do). A friend of Izzy’s, Selim, was our third. The first week he didn’t join an game, but instead watched us play Settlers and was intrigued by the game. So the three of us played a board of Settlers of Catan which he seemed to enjoy.
Last night’s session was exactly what I envisioned it being. We were six so we played Union Pacific (a train game). Izzy and Tahsin were there. Selim came again and brought a friend. Adnan came with Izzy. Everyone arrived nearly at 8pm on the dot as anticipated. The venue we play at we chose because people game there regularly (mostly family, social and classical games), and because they have a big and interesting menu. It is also very near a big university so I am hoping we will snag a few curious onlookers and grow our group.
The game went very smoothly. I encouraged everyone just to play easy and to enjoy it because it was most people’s first time. I tried to push people away from being competitive. As I soon realized this was not possible. Izzy commented in the beginning that it’s always competitive, and then proceeded to win his first time playing the game. The other players all took great pleasure in battling each other for control of the various rail companies, ignoring the ones that were unowned in favor of fighting each other. All in all it was a fun game (I finished last) and I think everyone enjoyed it. I am hoping as people learn more games, it will become a more stable group. Between Izzy and I, we have 25 games here in Istanbul, so it shouldn’t be a problem to keep things interesting. It also helps that all the people we had last night are all intelligent, analytical and competitive; the perfect mix for a gamer. A tip of my hat to Adnan who figured out his strategy for the game after hearing the rules only once.
Afterwards we went to Tophane for Nargile and I didn’t get home until very late. I am very tired right now.
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