Melissa Rogerson: Games Come in Boxes

There is magic in a games shop.

Walking in, seeing all those games on the shelves, begging to be taken home and loved.

Although I work from home, I often have to travel to meetings. And when I do, I usually try to make time to wander through my FLGS.

The friend who has worked there for years has moved on, but the siren call of the boxes remains. “We look with our eyes, not with our hands,” I tell my kids when I take them shopping - but of course I ignore my own advice when I have the chance to fondle a game box or three.

The funny part of it is that I never buy games there. If they have something I want, I always get Fraser to pick it up for me. This is not quite as sneaky a plan as it sounds, because I do eventually pay for them - it’s just that he has the discount card.

There’s magic in the other kind of game boxes, too. The kind that you wait for, week in, week out, until you have given up on it - and the kind that suddenly appears as a card in your mailbox - there’s a parcel waiting for you at the Post Office. Even when you place the order, it’s still a surprise when you get the games in your hand for the very first time. And nothing beats that new game smell.

Now this may come as a surprise to - well, probably only to anyone who has never met me or read anything I have written - but it is possible that I may not be the most patient person ever. And I often get those cards after hours, so I have an evening or - yikes - a weekend to fret about what might be waiting for me. I like planning - I often say that 60% of the fun of anything is the planning and anticipation - but the 12 hour wait for a parcel always does me in.

Amazon.de take that to new heights by shipping orders in several boxes. For our Christmas order, there was 4 times the anticipation and impatience - but there was also 4 times the fun in opening the boxes, checking components, seeing what exciting things are there to be unpacked.

I have had no less than THREE game deliveries in the past week. Fortunately for me, I went to the Post Office before it closed, so there was no nail-gnawing delay in getting the boxes - only in getting home with them (Note to self: Put a pair of scissors in the car. Using keys to rip open packing tape in the car is not a good idea).

There was the final part of our Amazon.de order - the box was lost in the mail, so they re-sent the game, no questions asked. Fantastic service and cheap shipping. It’s all good.

There was a game that I accidentally guilted the designer into sending me (Sorry Simon! You know it really WAS just a joke). I feel bad about that, but will enjoy the game - as well as the funny story of why it came to me. Stories like that give a personal connection to the game that cannot be bought.

And there was the Holy Grail - the games that my lovely friend Ann bought me at Essen last year. This parcel had been opened by Customs & Quarantine - I am starting to wonder whether they know my name there - because not only did Ann send me my Essen games, she sent me GAMING SNACKS to go with them. Also, Belgian chocolate. Fortunately, they did not eat any of the snacks, and they do not seem to have opened the games either.

Now all I need to decide is what to play first.

© 2008 Melissa Rogerson

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So what are the games??? Posted by Larry Levy on Feb 11, 2008 at 10:02 PM | #

Yes!!  Now you’ve created a virtual box with which you could tease us!  Open it, Melissa!  Open it!  We won’t be able to smell that lovely ink-and-cardboard fragrance, but still want to know! Posted by Nathan Morse on Feb 12, 2008 at 08:15 AM | #

For Pete’s sake, open it and share! Posted by David Reed on Feb 12, 2008 at 08:35 AM | #

I have turned into a total FedEx geek...half the fun of ordering a new game is tracking on the website it day-by-day.  It’s in Oregon!  It’s in Boise, Idaho!  It’s in Maumee, Ohio!  It’s out for delivery!  It’s a kind of illness, I’m sure. Posted by Erin Sparks on Feb 12, 2008 at 02:00 PM | #

And nothing beats that new game smell Especially in the case of Duel in the Dark and Kogworks ;-) If anyone really wants to know what the games are just check my profile, you’ll find them there :devil: Posted by Fraser McHarg on Feb 12, 2008 at 10:17 PM | #

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