Laura Rodriguez
Laura Rodriguez here – reporting live from the bottom of the board game abyss into which I’ve fallen. It’s been several years since I entered this board gaming realm, but life is wonderful here, and I don’t expect I’ll return to my pre-board-game life. Ok, seriously now – I currently live in Iowa, where I am a middle school band director by day, board game reviewer/enthusiast/lover/player by night. Well, I’m into board games all the time, but band directing is another passion of mine, and it’s what pays the bills.
About 5 years ago, I met Travis through his wife, and that’s how I got sucked into the board gaming world. The first game I distinctly remember playing is Saboteur because I was the saboteur every single time and (spoiler alert) I’m awful at games that involve bluffing. So it was quite an introduction, to say the least. As we hung out more, Travis introduced me to more and more games, and I quickly fell in love with the hobby. The first game I bought for my personal collection was Mysterium, and my collection has grown substantially since then. Not a Kallax owner yet, but I definitely am at the point where I need a bigger boat….er, shelf.
When it comes to my gaming tastes, I’ll try anything at least once. My favorite themes for games usually involve superheroes, sci-fi/fantasy, or medieval subject matter, but really I’m down for anything! Mechanics I love are card drafting, deck building, or set collection. I’m always on the prowl for new themes/mechanics that I have yet to try, but neat artwork is usually what will first draw my attention to any game (*hint*).
Lots of my gaming these days is solo (All by myseeeeeeelf), so if a game has a solo variant it’s an added bonus for me. I wish game nights with the group happened more often, but sometimes those pesky ‘personal lives’ get in the way, so I take what I can get!
Here are various other random thoughts of mine regarding different aspects of board gaming:
- Co-Op vs. Competitive – I definitely prefer co-op games. I’m generally a pretty competitive person, so if a game has too much targeting and ‘take that,’ I start to take things personally – which makes it fun for nobody. As long as there’s strategy involved, and not just malicious intent, I enjoy a good competitive game. But I would rather be a team player and work together! Teamwork makes the dream work!
- Sleeving Cards – I generally sleeve games that involve lots of shuffling. And that’s it.
- Component Upgrades – I have yet to upgrade the components to any of the games in my collection. I take extremely good care of my games, so all components stay pristine and in working order. Sometimes I get an upgrade through a Kickstarter stretch goal, but it’s usually not something I would have upgraded on my own.
- Expansions – If I love a game, I’ll get the expansions. Will I actually play with the expansions is, admittedly, a different matter altogether…… Eventually I’ll get every expansion played at least once! Probably. Maybe before I die…
- Expansion Boxes – My collection is still relatively small enough that I keep all my expansion boxes. Their content is now housed in the base game boxes, but I just have a drawer in my tv stand full of empty expansion boxes. I’m sure I’ll get rid of them eventually (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, baby!), but I can’t bring myself to get rid of them quiiiite yet. It just pains me to betray those game boxes like that!
- Collectible Games – Luckily the only collectible game I got into was Dice Masters. I was going pretty hard at first trying to get every card/character, but I was able to shake that idea from my head. And my wallet thanks me for it! I do enjoy Dice Masters, but now I just mainly play with what I already have. I guess I was really into Pokemon cards as a kid too, but I never actually played the game. I just collected cards and traded with friends. I’m definitely not still bitter about the time I traded away my holographic Alakazam in the 3rd grade. Totally over it. :'(
- Minis – I don’t own any, but if someone brought a mini-centric game to game night to play, I would not say no. They just seem a little excessive to me, so that’s why I don’t really care for them.
- Party Games – I know many ‘serious’ gamers are very anti-party games, but I usually don’t mind them. You need to find the right game for the right group, and sometimes a group of new gamers isn’t ready for Betrayal at House on the Hill or Scythe yet. Don’t overwhelm them! Find a cool party game you like, and get their toes in the water.
- Vertical vs. Horizontal Storage – Currently, I store my games horizontally. I don’t know if vertically is more efficient for space, but I just get scared that my components will spill everywhere inside the box!
- Box Inserts – Speaking of storage, if the provided insert in a game box actually does its job, I will keep it. If it makes set-up/tear-down too tedious or its not intuitive as to what is stored where, I’d rather pitch the insert and either come up with my own or just empty box it with components in baggies. I’d prefer to have a good insert from the get-go, but sometimes that’s just too much to ask I guess… 😉
- Rulebooks – The more in-depth a rulebook goes, the more I like it. Explain thoroughly, provide lots of examples, include pictures too! Especially if I’m playing a game I’ve never played before, or it utilizes a new mechanic for me, the more descriptive a rulebook is, the better!
Click below to be linked to some of my other personal articles:
My Top 10 Games Ever List
More articles coming soon!
