Alfred Wallace: Game Bling

I was raised in a tech-y, engineering-dominated household.  True to stereotype, form was generally sacrificed to function—and economy—on a regular basis.  Even for the various and many hobbies we had and have, the trappings around them might be pretty spare.  Lots of simple (but sturdy!) plywood shelves, cardboard boxes, and the like.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised, then, to discover all the effort folks put into the aesthetics surrounding their games.

My games live a rough ‘n’ ready lifestyle.  Plastic utility shelving, a simple folding table to play them on, and whatever chairs are sitting around.  Sometimes I like to imagine that some of the games I’ve traded for, or bought on eBay, feel a sense of disappointment.  A lot of people have really impressive shelves.  Lots of stainless steel or stained wood; I saw a BGG picture once (somewhere…) of a gamer with his games stored in fairly ornate bookcases with glass doors.  Tables, too, often rise above the $20 special at the Megamart.  A lot of custom-made ones, designed with cupholders and armrests and goodness knows what else.  (Any with built-in dice towers?)

Then there are the tuckboxes.  There is a reasonably breathtaking variety of them nowadays, for all kinds of shapes and sizes.  I’m pretty handy with scissors and glue sticks, but I haven’t quite mustered the energy to put many of these together.  (Although I’ve printed out some for Combat Commander.) We’ve come a long way from rubber bands, friends.

Then—and most spectacularly—there are the homemade, redone game components.  The most spectacular I’ve seen is Mike Doyle’s visually stunning reexamination of Puerto Rico.  I also like Sampö Sikiö’s homebrew cards.  I especially like the Battleline/Lost Cities cards.  And the spam version of For Sale. 

The best part is that this shows how the hobby can connect with our creative sides, along with our intellectual and social needs.  Gaming, in some way, becomes integrated into our lives when we expend this kind of effort, kind of like how we personalize our cars, bikes, walls, and so on.

Well, those of us who feel the need to have more than utility shelves and camp tables, anyway.

(A short one this week, as I prepare for my first round of discussion sections.  Now that heat and power have returned, my life--gaming and otherwise--is right about back to normal.  And to any of the students who Google me and happen upon this: The Trial of Anne Hutchinson won’t read itself!  Get to it!)

Comments:

< Back Home