2018 Board Game Challenges report
Checking in on goals before setting new ones for 2019
2018 was a bit of a weird year for me in board gaming, but it was a fantastic year for me personally.
My wife and I married in April, and it turns out that you just don’t play a lot of games when you’re preparing for a wedding. You can actually see it pretty clearly in the numbers.
January saw 42 plays; February, 29; March, 12; and April, three. Those three plays were at work game night, where we played Dinosaur Island, Downforce and Orleans. May was pretty much the same, at five plays, and even June was similar — eight. Things sort of normalized from there, but it’s a good reminder that life often interrupts one’s hobbies, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
In late 2018, I also revived my Instagram account, @DontEatTheMeeples, which has been a fun, exciting thing to really get going. I’ve been focusing on the detail in games, which has been a good photography challenge for me.
At any rate, it feels a bit like a bit of a surprise that I met as many goals as I did. Let’s talk about some of those.
100x1
For my first time, I set a unique-games goal — and I’m doubling down on it. (Not literally. Not only am I not sure what ‘doubling down’ would mean in this context, I’m not actually doubling it. Yet.)
I found it rewarding because I have a fairly substantial collection, and as you all know, when you have a large collection, you end up with a fair number of games you actually haven’t played. That was very much me, and setting a goal like this encouraged me to go through my shelves and play games I hadn’t given much attention.
250 plays
I’m actually pretty surprised I hit this one, with March through June seeing just 28 plays — so just over 10 percent of the goal in one-third of the year. That gives me some encouragement heading into next year, because I’d like to play more.
Of course, we’ll see what life thinks about that — I’m only adding 50 plays to this challenge in 2019. I’m hoping to smash through the goal before October.
2 players x 50
I’ve been aiming to play more two-player focused games, and as part of that, I set a two-player goal — just 50 plays. I hit that in December, and I feel pretty good about it — but I’d like to revise it in 2019.
Instead of simply playing two-player games, which I hit pretty much without thinking about it, I’d like to focus on playing more games with just my wife. She’s into board games (and often beats me) but I haven’t usually proposed playing a game, instead focusing more on watching TV shows we’re watching together. (We’ve been going through Star Trek: The Next Generation for her first complete watch, so that’s super exciting.)
25 Solo Plays
As part of my desire to learn more games and teach them to others, I decided to play more games just by myself. I’d typically go for a video game in most games, but focusing on board games meant I spent less time staring at a screen. Given that’s what I do for work, it’s been especially nice to try to get away from that sometimes. (It’s not always easy — I’ve been in front of computers since I was a child, and it’s so easy to continue doing that.)
Cooperative x 50
I really like cooperative games — I don’t think it’s just because it’s not competitive, but that certainly makes a difference. I also don’t think it’s because I’m fairly non-confrontational, because I still enjoy a good competitive game.
Maybe it’s that we get to combine our thought processes and decision-making. Working together to solve problems? Yeah, count me in.
Goals I didn’t meet
I tried to split out the classic 10x10 into several discrete challenges: a 3x10 for heavy games, an 8x8 for medium-weight games, and a 10x10 for light games. I didn’t meet any of those challenges; I think that’s because dividing things up forced me to divide my focus.
I also found that for the most part, I focused on playing a wider variety of games instead of a smaller set of games more. Are those two goals compatible, I wonder? Maybe if I’d played more, I’d have got there. Oh well! I might try something similar again, but we’ll just have to wait and see.
