I’m part of a group of 8 people who play Eurogames every Friday night.
Okay, everybody isn’t there every week, and tonight it was just two of us. But most of us are there most weeks. And I love doing it!
I never needed to find a gaming group — until my youngest son headed off to college. Before that, I could always play at home — first with my brothers and sisters, then with my kids.
While we lived in Germany for ten years, I got super excited about Eurogames. You can just buy fantastic games in Wal-Mart-type-stores in Germany! One of my favorite activities before I realized I could find the translations on the Internet was practicing my German by translating game rules.
But first my husband left. Then one by one, my sons moved out. I didn’t have anyone to play games with. Yes, I could have gone online. But I already have solitaire puzzle games I play online. The fun of board games and card games is playing with actual people.
So my co-worker invited me to a group that plays on Saturdays, and I finally got around to going. Eventually an opening came up in the Friday night group. I love it! I really enjoy games and really enjoy playing them. And it’s fun exercising my brain among smart people. (They are mostly better than me at games, but I win just often enough to feel like I’m not deadweight.) And, yes, it’s fun to be around men again. (Only one of the other gamers is a woman.) It reminds me of playing games with my brothers or my math brothers (fellow math majors in college). Now that I work as a librarian, a field dominated by women, I don’t get that as much.
But, funny thing. This summer, I got to play games with some of my brothers — and it reminded me of playing games with my gaming group! So I feel like it’s an important part of my life now.
Bottom line, I’m so glad I have a regular outlet when I get to go play games with other people who enjoy it as much as I do.