I had to chuckle when I saw this fun blog post by one of my favorite home school bloggers, Heather, over at Blog, She Wrote: More Game Storage. I can really relate to her need for added storage! Mr. Garner loves games. Card games, board games, you name it. We have games stored in the den coat closet, in all the upper shelves in his office, and on his floor, and on his card table…
Me? Games? Whatever. My memories of games involve getting creamed at chess, within a few moves, by older brother, looong never-ending-games of Monopoly at my grandparent’s house, and boy cousins who would not include me in their games of Risk. Scrabble is okay. I like Mhing (a card version of Mah Jong). When I was in college, everyone played backgammon so I have a bored or two, (misspelling is intentional). I used to be pretty good at poker, because I have a good poker face, but alas, I don’t have the funds…
Mr. Garner, however, really loves games! Big boxed games with intricate boards, colorful cards
“Hey! Be careful! Don’t bend them!”
and beautiful figures and pieces. Games that you have to “set up.” Complicated games that take hours to play. He enjoys reading…the rules.
I can’t complain. Mr. Garner has been very supportive of homeschooling. Especially since each period of history has a game to go with it! He has Ark of the Covenant, Journeys of Paul, Hannibal – Rome vs Carthage; Settlers of Catan, Roll through the Ages, Thebes, Beowulf, Condotierre, Yspahan (set in Persia), Serenissima, El Grande, Dominion, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Age of Empires, Wilderness War, Liberty, Founding Fathers, Lewis and Clark. Now that we are discussing the Civil War, He’s pulled out Battle Cry. I could go on and on – because these are only the history games.
His most recent acquisition, Ticket to Ride, is in fact thanks to Heather. He was ECSTATIC when I mentioned that Heather uses Ticket to Ride in homeschooling. He shared excitedly, that Ticket to Ride is a wonderful “gateway” game. A gateway game is one that non-gaming wives, (I’m apparently not the only one), will actually enjoy when guilt requires that they finally play a game with the family. Undaunted by our tighter than usual circumstances, he enrolled The Daughter in the Barnes and Noble Kids Club, and started watching for coupons.
So, on our recent weekend at the farm, we all gathered around the table to play Ticket to Ride. Gamer Husband was trying to outfox all involved. Gamer Son figured out his strategy at the beginning and did not swerve. Sort-of-Gamer Daughter just had lots of fun! Non-Gamer Mom, this would be me, was assigned three routes of track to lay, all three of which were cross-country and required lots of cards to accomplish, and so she just kept her mouth shut, focused, and did it. Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do? Imagine EVERYONE’s surprise when Non-Gamer Mom won! Gamer Son still can’t figure out what he did wrong….
Rabbit Trails 
Awesome Sara! Way to go!
Your house does sound like mine only gamer husband is not so cool on losing ground and cash to games recently!
But do you have the expansion pack 1910 to go with Ticket? Or how about the europe version and its 1912 expansion? Game hint Sara- the one who lays the most long routes down wins whether or not you complete cards. Now if you play 1910, that strategy doesn’t work as well.
Thanks for the shout out and thanks for reading Blog, She Wrote!
Heather
Ahem!
Heather, I’ll allow your giving tips to Sara on Ticket to Ride only because your blog post provided the justification I needed to finally get my hands on a train game!
I met a game designer from Hasbro a while back who also had a wife who didn’t care much for cardboard-based entertainment. When asked what game HE recommended for non-gamers, he replied, “Ticket to Ride!” (Which isn’t even a Hasbro game!)
Thanks!
Never played Ticket to Ride. Sounds like a fun game to scout for at yard sales! (You brought back memories of backgammon in college–never realized you didn’t like it very much!)
It’s all relative! Any lack of enthusiasm I have about games, placed against Ralph’s joy of games provides tremendous contrast!
Hi,
I came over from Heather’s blog. Your son and mine sound very similar. He loves military strategy games and will spend hours reading the instructions (often on-line before he even owns the game) and setting up the board. His favorite board game company right now is Columbia Games. He has Liberty, Hammer of the Scots, Gettysburg, and Eastfront 2 (Westfront 2 is supposed to arrive today – he bought it himself) Thankfully, he has figured out a way to play by himself because this is not my idea of fun.
We also have games like Ticket to Ride, which I find rather stressful, but I often come out victorious. Like you, I just keep quiet and plug away at my routes. Several years ago I finally broke down and played Catan and it wasn’t nearly as bad as I had thought. I played one of the add-ons though and did not like it. The family knows that if they want me to play it has to be the original version.
The games I most enjoy are the quick ones like Qwirkle or Blokus and I enjoy word games like Boggle or Quiddler.
(For those expensive military games, try a place called trollandtoad.com, I saved my son nearly $30 by looking there for the Westfront 2 game. Still expensive, but if he saves his money….)
Sarah
Welcome! Love Heather’s blog!
It’s actually my husband! Although my son (Ian) loves games too!
Ralph loves trollandtoad! He also uses a site http://www.coolstuffinc.com for purchases. I’ll have to ask about the Eastfront and Westfront games – I don’t think we have those.
Thanks for the tip on coolstuffinc.
My son got Eastfront for Christmas and then just bought Westfront, with the overall goal of buying Eurofront. I don’t pretend to understand it all, but I think Eurofront somehow combines the Eastfront and Westfront. Now he will probably start saving for Eurofront (or hope he gets it for his birthday a couple of months from now).
The games are quite expensive, but he has learned to save his money for what he really wants, so that is a good lesson.
Sarah
Thanks for stopping by my blog, so nice to meet you!
My kids love boardgames, but we have nothing so intricate as the games your family is playing! We do have a game called “Pioneer Trek” which sounds like it is based on Ticket to Ride but with wagons. It takes a while to play, though!
Good Morning, visiting from Blog Frog ~ You have a wonderful blog ~ any other way to follow other than subscription? You might get more followers ~ both blogs are great ~ Have a ‘wonder filled’ day ~ artmusedog ^_^
Oh that’s funny. I love games! This is a new one for me. I’m going to have to look into it.