I’ve been playing a lot of board games lately, mainly because I’ve been going to a board game meetup, and because my friends are strange. One friend, who has just spent most of this weekend just gone beating all of his guests at Catan, insists that playing board games regularly is very good for humanity and he’s surprised more people don’t do it. I confess one of the reasons I love Christmas is that it’s a good excuse to play board games with my family and it’s one of my favourite parts of the day. Being soundly thrashed at Catan several times, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is an important part of one’s education realising that however nice one’s friends are, one’s social circle is almost certainly a vicious snake pit of wanton opportunism and ruthlessness.
I agree with friend’s assessment that Catan is like Risk and Monopoly combined, but not totally rubbish like that actually sounds. The game I’ve grown very very fond of indeed is Betrayal At House On Hill, which is like Cabin in the Woods as a board game. Players bumble around a haunted house, exploring and encountering horror clichés, and initiating a haunting. There’s around fifty haunting scenarios, depending on how the haunting is triggered. It’s a lot of fun and I highly recommend it.
Catan also involved much coiffing of wine, and I suffered for it the next day despite taking my usual precautions (aka drinking some pints of water before sleep). I did turn 26 recently, so I am old. I just wasn’t expecting to kick in so soon. And so thoroughly. That was a terrible headache.
Nel Norris 