Interviews by an Optimist # 77 -
Gary Christiansen
Gary had this to say about himself…
I seem to have become one of those older gamers these days. I was born in the mid-50's and went through the 60's pretty much like most kids when it came to games. What was around back then were all the old hat traditional kids' games like Chutes & Ladders, Life, Mouse Trap, and Battleship. I graduated slowly towards more complex games like Scrabble and Parchesi, though those are still pretty simplistic compared to what's around now. We played Monopoly and card games like Rummy quite a bit in my family.
When I was around 9 or so, give or take a few months, someone introduced me to Chess at school, and I kicked everyone's tush end. This was great, but eventually the other kids decided it was more fun going outside and watching someone else do stuff during recess than having me kick them around the Chess board. I was pretty good at it, and for a long time, I got a lot of pleasure out of Chess. I even did tournament play as recently as a decade or so ago, but my abilities have dropped off. The best rating I ever earned was between 1700-1800 from FIDE, yet now I struggle to beat people rated 1400.
My high school years were spent in White Plains, NY, where at age 13 one of my friends introduced me to Avalon Hill wargames. As an interest, it took off for me like a shot. I found out that Simulations Publications Inc (SPI, and now defunct as you know) did Friday night playtesting at 23rd Street in NYC, I started taking the train in every week. Between my interest in Military History and the fact these fascinating games portrayed battles, I became a pretty hardcore wargamer as a result.
I got to playtest a lot of games there, pretty about half of what they published from 1972-1978. To this date though, the only game I've ever found that they got my name on for playtest credits was The Lord of the Rings. Most of what I did was to earn credit towards games I couldn't buy otherwise, and a fair number of my old SPI collection comes from the playtester credits, or because I did volunteer work at the keypunch entering the S&T magazine feedback results.
I made some very good friends back then at the time and ended up hanging out with them at other times, socializing, gaming with them. People like Greg Costikyan, Stephen Tihor, Eric Goldberg, John Butterfield, Ben Grossman, Tom Gould and Dan Gelber. I knew most of the SPI staff on a casual basis; and Dunnigan himself kept referring to me as 'Chris', which I found out was because he's terrible with names by the way, and simply because of my size almost everyone knew me on sight.
When SPI collapsed, I was off at School for a bit, and then went into jobs doing computer programming. I worked mostly in banking, though eventually I also picked up computer related jobs in the Utilities, Broadcasting and Telecommunications, principally acting as an independent consultant for much of my time in NYC. My associations with the NY game designer community was social and as a playtester, for instance when Greg got his contract to do the game for the film Willow, both I and my fiancé-to-be (Annette) were participants in the playtest.
Annette & I married, I had a bit of drop out of gaming time, and a couple years in we had a son, Danny, now 17. He is also now very much into gaming. But with his birth, I relocated the family away from New York to Michigan for work reasons.
Another big interest to me is Science Fiction so we picked up connections in the local Science Fiction community in southeastern Michigan with ease. We joined the Stilyagi Air Corps (a large f&s/f fan group there) and participated in running their conventions. I even volunteered to work with other conventions for a time as well. The largest con I ever worked on was one of the Atlanta World Science Fiction Conventions, at which I was part of the convention security staff. But we managed in Michigan to burn out on volunteering for conventions, pretty solidly. The other big Michigan event in my life was the birth of my daughter, Kira, who is now 14.
We moved to Columbus, Ohio about 1996. After a brief stint of knowing almost no one here, I managed to connect with a local gaming group through a lucky contact with David Carroll, who led me to the Columbus Area Boardgaming Society (CABS). Danny was 11 at the time, and though with some trepidation the adults let him participate in gaming, in no time flat they referred to him as "The Kid" because he did much better than they expected, and they found his behavior was exemplary for a child his age. CABS was all of about 12-20 members at the time, and after a year or two I was invited to join the Board of Directors by Bruce Reiff, since at that time, the board was composed solely of those guys who got work done for the club.... with only the most informal of elections, mostly rubber stamping the existing board.
I've been the official club photographer for some time now, and my capacity is often that of club bouncer (as if we need one), but I also was the guy who wrote our charter when we decided it was time. We've since grown to 150+ members, and have to manage a real budget now, so the club is substantial.
In addition, one of the ways I keep my hand in on gaming is by doing playtesting. At the moment I am playtesting a title for L2 Design, and I've been doing some liaison contacts with publishers to keep our club's relations on good terms in general with the industry. Bud Sauer was thinking of stepping down as the CABS liaison to GAMA for Origins, which then would have become my job, but he has since changed his mind and is staying in that role for now.
From my past time at SPI to my current position with CABS, I've made a lot of gaming contacts, met a lot of the Wargaming community publishers directly at one time or another. I count a few designers as personal friends, and hope they feel the same about me. The Bigger Game Industry picture has many other genres though, and it has been great to see it growing in recent years as the movement away from the CCG model has brought us back to board games again.
I retain my board member position as of this writing (elections tomorrow night actually) and will continue working with CABS to grow our membership, keep the club healthy, and game!
Tom: What were your first impressions of CABS, and how have they changed?
Gary: When I first walked into a CABS (Columbus Area Boardgaming Society) meeting, there were maybe a dozen or less guys playing boardgames on the tables in the back of one of the Columbus game stores. I'd been invited by Dave Carroll, who I'd found on Consimworld. What I'd been interested in was finding an activity to share with my son who was about 11 at the time.
This turned out to be a group of the kind of adults I'd known when I'd been gaming when I was younger in New York, a bit smart and a bit out of the social mainstream. There were guys playing wargames and guys playing multiplayer games. At the time, the Euros were new to me though not that different from the off titles I play irregularly.
So my first impression was I'd found a small niche group like any other niche group of gamers I felt comfortable with. A group who successfully welcomed my son too. Not only did they welcome him in the group with me, but they suffered a bit of angst over being beaten by him semi-regularly to the point they started to refer to him as "The Kid". That the majority of the group claimed they'd play wargames at home, but preferred in public to just play more social multiplayer games was noticeable. And like any gaming group, there was a bit of local lore that grew up around certain games such as one they called the "Game without Rules." Such things help bind a small group together.
In short, as a group, it was an extended family, complete with black sheep, prodigal sons, and one or two who worked to keep things going. Comforting to know you're a part of.
Now CABS has grown to over 150 members in 2005. There's a game library that won't fit in three large metal cabinets. We've got space to easily fit in 120-150 gamers per meeting which are held on the first, third and fifth Fridays of every month. We typically are drawing between 80-90 people on an average gaming night, which is pretty strong as a showing. Perhaps because we really stress being inclusive of all genres of boardgames, we are up to about 30% women at the meetings now, showing their comfort with the group.
We have new members join regularly, and it seems we lose a few every couple months when they move or the rest of their life overtakes them for a time. There's a couple off hand I can think of, like Josh Adelson (Mr. Cranky on Boardgamegeek) who moved away, and Katherine Bush, who really were part of the personality of the club for a while. I'm personally sad to see these members of our gaming family leave, and some of them I try to stay in touch with.
Another big change is CABS runs its own convention now each fall. We just had our sixth Buckeye Game Fest, and once again grew the attendance by something between 10-20% to over 150 for four days of gaming. When that started out, we were fortunate to get a couple dozen people show up the first time.
But CABS still remains an extended family even if you don't know everyone. Even with changes, a few struggles from growing pains, moving from location to location so we'd fit, having to change our dues, the odd disparity in the variety of genres in the club, the family atmosphere remains.
Tom: Why is CABS so huge, when most other game clubs struggle to get more than a dozen members?
Gary: There's at least one simple answer to that. His name is George 'Bud' Sauer. Bud undertook an effort to do a serious membership drive shortly after I became a club Board Member. While we all participated to some extent, the propaganda effort was his brainchild. He comes up with dozens of ideas for the purpose, most of which are easy to say no to. But with the torrent of ideas come some gems.
Apart from the usual simple things like bring someone with you to the club thing, there are several of those ideas Bud had us use. We printed up business cards and distribute them all over town. He contacts the papers regularly to talk up the club, and persuaded two of the local newspapers to do articles on us as we've grown. He's done a web crawl to locate small pockets of gamers in the Columbus area and sent them emails about us. Any email address he can find that appears to be a gamer in the area he includes on our email newsletter. We encourage our members to wear club T-shirts publicly. Early on we had a large number printed up cheaply and handed them out with almost every raffle or other excuse that seemed reasonable. We do anything we can to get the word out the club exists and is growing.
The effort doesn't stop at getting the word out CABS is here. We also greet everyone that comes in. One of the duties of a Board Member is to greet new people, introduce them to what the club is like; then make sure they get in a game as soon as we can when they show up.
Everyone is friendly and helpful for bringing new people into a game here. As an example, members like Val Putman cheerfully will teach anyone who joins a game with her the system of the game, explain how it plays and with her good sportsmanship provides a good example of what people can expect when playing at CABS. She's not the only one too. It's part of the club's culture.
Tom: What are some of the difficulties of having such a large club?
Gary: In a small club decisions for everyone are easier to make and still know there will be consensus. A small group can meet in a lot more places, in general doesn't have any more complex issues than when and where to meet. With a larger group someone is likely to feel strongly something must be done differently. A larger club also has assets to protect; the game library, the meeting space lease, the treasury, a few other incidental items it acquires as well.
So there's both political and physical issues. Of the two, the people issues dealing with a large group is the more difficult. When it seems like real money or value is involved, people get a lot more serious. It's hard at times like this. But if you learn how to work together early, you can reduce a lot of those problems. There are two really important things to remember when it gets hard, one is this is just a game club, the other is these are
friends you want to keep.
This year's big hassle was finding enough space for the club. We tried to include the whole membership in the process. But the owner at the place we found wouldn't let us try it with the members before signing a lease. We had to act without member participation even though we'd been trying to include them at other sites. There were some hard feelings about that.
The space issue turned into a problem with setting dues. The larger space means higher dues. Raising dues can be touchy. After all, anyone can play games at home instead and not pay any dues so we have to be sure the money we collect really benefits the members. It took the Board a lot of time and discussion to devise a plan the membership could accept. With the increase we chose, standard dues wouldn't pay all of the cost. Fortunately, a few folk act as sponsors by paying significantly more money than average members, and there are out of town people who want an associate membership as well.
In previous years, we've dealt with problems with setting up our convention, about buying a library of games, about how to best advertise, about where to meet, about dealing with people with children loose unattended, about parking and a host of other issues.
I want you to know people problems aren't really all that bad though. As the guy who is officially the enforcer of rules I can tell you our membership is a great bunch. I've only twice intervened in problems at the club and once at the convention. Each time was easily resolved by discussion.
As I said before, CABS is mostly like family. Members want a good happy club that works for them. They want to be where the other people are that share their interest in games. They really want a steady reliable location they can be gaming, find interested regular opponents, and to be certain they will get to play the games.
I'll repeat that, this really is the critical reason we grow. The members want a place to meet and play games with people who share the interest, somewhere reliably steady and fun. CABS fits that role for people in Columbus.
Oh, there's always problems you need to work out, even for a small club. The Board works to keep everything under control. And this is our hobby too. We want to game, laugh with friends, game, enjoy the companionship, game, and have fun as much as everyone else.
Tom: What is CABS relationship with Origins?
Gary: Origins is run by GAMA now. GAMA completely owns the giant behemoth and runs it with literally a couple hundred volunteers and a dozen or so volunteer organizations. Before GAMA took over, the Wizards of the Coast had been running the convention, but it appears they decided it simply wasn't profitable enough for them.
GAMA started out on rocky ground dealing with CABS, almost adversarial. Partly because they were dealing with another group that did boardgaming stuff for Origins. So CABS may have seemed superfluous. Any large enough group event there is competition for the operations that are available.
If you know the history of Origins, the first Origins was a mutual event set up by Avalon Hill and SPI. They were looking to set up an event to pitch their wargame products to the public outside their magazine offerings and the handful of retail outlets they had shelf space on. It started well, and took off because they included any game publisher, letting it grow to fill the need for publishers to reach the gaming public. Eventually wargaming became a lesser niche at the convention until as recently as six or seven years ago, wargaming all but vanished from Origins.
Bud Sauer came up with the idea of CABS running a room for Wargaming. He pitched the idea, organized the wargamers and CABS into setting up the first Origins War Room. The Director of GAMA, Anthony Gallela, bought into the idea and supported the CABS effort. We run the actual room, they supply the space and treat us as a volunteer organization with that space. While we had our problems at first, the room was very successful the very first year out, drawing wargamers back to Origins. GAMA has been very happy about the return of wargamers to the convention, and Anthony especially has expressed an interest in ensuring the wargamers feel welcome at the convention.
Bud is still the CABS liaison to GAMA, and our relationship with them is improved. We were blamed for oopses GAMA had with the program book and things like directions to the War Room this last year. But GAMA knows about it and has actively told not just Bud, but me also how they intend to correct those problems. We'll have to see how it turns out, but I'm hopeful with Trey Reilly in charge of Programs this year we'll see some real improvements.
GAMA turns to us for volunteers, and our members stepped up last year supplying the convention as a whole with some 40 or so warm healthy gamers to give a hand. This kind of relationship can become better with each year.
As an aside Buckeye Game Fest saw a lot of Wargamers this September even though they we're really an Any Genre Boardgaming Convention. Almost half the place was filled with wargames, and we had 160-180 attendees. We attribute some of that to the success of the CABS War Room at Origins. CABS members may consider starting a betting pool, no money mind you, on which group grows more next year, the wargamers or euros. Personally, I favor both, the more attendees the merrier.
Tom: When running your own convention, what are some of the hardest things and surprisingly easiest things about it?
Gary: Each convention is unique, even if it's a regular annual event. There's several critical things to running a convention attendees don't much get to see. I'd like to claim expertise, but I really can't. Still, I'll try to explain what I can.
This year Nathaniel Hoam chaired the con committee. He had to deal with the issues of getting volunteers, having them meet deadlines, his budget for the convention, making sure everyone does their bit to work on promised tasks. The politics of keeping everyone on track and keeping egos in check to get a whole job done is not trivial. Nate had to balance that act this year.
And oh yeah, he had to answer to the entire CABS Board too. CABS owns the convention, so it's not independent. So at times the Board was a bit difficult, since this is the first year we were not the convention committee too. I think he did a superb job.
It shouldn't be a surprise the hardest task to accomplish is to get volunteers ahead of time, to get people to commit to running events, get them to show up on time to run the events. Volunteers often merely see it as just doing their duty, but we need them to excel at the tasks they've taken on. Yet they're volunteers, remember they aren't being compensated nearly enough to lean on them. They must be coaxed not cajoled. So it's hard to continuously bring an unending rush of cheerful productive energy and effort so others have the enthusiasm too. These are tough tasks Nate accomplished.
Let me point out Bruce Reiff handles our contract issues. Not only the lease for the CABS regular meetings, but hotel space for the convention too. Just like finding meeting space, finding convention space where the hotel is able to sustain a good relationship is hard. Hotels have management changes that happen many times in the lifetime of a regular annual convention. They have specific kinds of customers they prefer; gamers and science fiction fans aren't always high on those lists. Bruce handles contract details for the public space, room blocks & the room prices, any catering services the hotel expects to sell, rental of any supplies, and little trivia things left over. Without Bruce to do our negotiating, we'd have a tougher time.
It's unsettling as the convention approaches because people tend to wait until the last possible moment before pre-registering, or else they register at the door. That makes it real hard to really estimate the number of people who will show up. We long ago decided not to set an upper limit on attendance, so we don't have any advanced knowledge of total numbers.
We also don't like event tickets and don't sell them to control event attendance. So we've no way to tell our GM's how many people will be at their events in advance either, though we do have sign up sheets for the purpose. We still manage to get people in events anyway, without squabbling over seating limits. That has turned out very well every year.
What's left are surprises that show up during the convention. A couple years ago it was the previous hotel's restaurant had shut down so we had no lunch catering. We recently had a problem where the hotel double booked the space we were to have, putting a wedding in the space instead of us though we had the prior contract. The answer isn't to talk about legal action, but to negotiate quickly for solutions. They put us in a different space and we had free Coke & Pepsi products all weekend. These things can anger the attending public if you don't fix problems gracefully. That means swiftly too, with due care to provide for your partners... the attending gamers.
What starts to become easy when the time comes, is actually opening the doors and running the convention. This year because Mike Zehnal had been thorough in getting registration material ready in advance, and Bea Mignerey as desk volunteer helped a lot keeping track of people when we didn't yet have those materials on site. With all the preparation before hand, even running an event isn't hard. Gamers like to participate and get involved in gaming pretty well the minute they show up.
The old saying that if you take care of the big problems everything else is just details seems to be true. Things shake out pretty well once the attendees show up. It's a whole weekend partying with good friends you didn't know you had.
Tom: What would be your recommendations to someone who is looking to start a board game club from scratch?
Gary: Realistically? Don't. Let some other sucker do the work! I bet it's not that simple though, eh?
Okay, so let's say you have a set of people who really want to do it. You're going to have more than four people to start this up, preferably more, and whoever starts it is going to be doing the work to start with, possibly for quite some time. So when you start, make sure you're doing this in a way fitting your ability to stick with it until someone else may choose to take over. You're going to build up a cadre, a core of friendly gamers to help draw more people in...
With those friendly but competitive gamers you need both a place to meet and a set, specific time you'll meet regularly.
Tailor the time to everyone's availability and the people you hope to attract. We have a lot of family gamers, so we picked a time that leaves them weekends for family stuff, and every other week for the same reason. Could be this fledgling theoretical club has a bunch of fresh out of college folk who can meet every week on a Saturday, a religious group who can game after church on Sunday as a fellowship, or a group that likes to meet at the pub every Tuesday night.
But you have to meet regularly, and it has to be a public place. You can start out at people's homes, but then you're placing a burden on those people to be available all the time. It also can put off new people to walk up to a house that is strange to them. So find something in a socially neutral location or at least one that fits your intended membership.
And the people who are willing to do the work for the club, give them the authority to do what it takes to run the club right off. Some wise guy named Cyril Northcote Parkinson once observed "Deliberative bodies become decreasingly effective after they pass five to eight members," which is fancy talk for any decision process involving more than that number of people becomes slow and burdensome.
Believe me, Parkinson was right. Discussion in groups involving even five people to make decisions can become messy. That's why Robert's Rules of Order exists. Using Robert's rules too literally slows everything down, by making it more complex and ugly.
Invite new people often, not just once or twice. Everyone has to be encouraged to bring friends.
Advertise. Call local papers and see if they put notices in the town activity pages. Put up fliers, send email to anyone local you can identify by any means as a gamer.
Be inclusive, don't drive people away because they prefer games different from your favorites, you can always trade off which gets played next. When someone new shows up you must greet them and get them into a game quickly. New people are always nervous about introducing themselves, so you have to be the outgoing parties. Don't leave them standing around watching because then they won't come back.
Be careful not to be an 'alpha' game club though, include other people in the process of running it, so the people who start it don't have to be the ones running it. The real hazard you are up against is a club with one charismatic person running it, the alpha. Eventually that person leaves. Then the club disintegrates. Prevent that disintegration. Train new people all along; encourage new gamers to participate in the control committee or board. You can't let it just happen; you have to plan to step down some day. Do so all along, and you'll be prepared when it's time.
Last... and possibly most important, have fun. Lots of fun. So much fun others will clearly see it and want to be part of it. The more enjoyment you have, the more others will enjoy themselves too. Have fun for another reason though. That's what you want a club for anyway.
Tom: Do you think there's a gap between "wargamers" and other gamers, and are there games that bridge that gap?
Gary: There is a distinct gap between wargamers and other gamers. Though I'm not sure it has to be bridged so much as simply understood and accepted. There has always been an image issue for wargamers though.
Often the assumption is wargamers must be warmongers, people who enjoy violence and glorify war. The Armchair General stereotype is promoted by Hollywood, in books, on TV, certain (perhaps trigger happy) political groups and even by some gaming public. The stereotype is a strutting martinet for whom using an army is the natural answer to anything. One of the women CABS members I respect a lot gets a funny look regarding wargaming, even though she has no desire to have wargamers go away. This aspect of wargaming could generate a huge psychology study & article by itself.
Annette was worried about my wargaming when we got married, but she came around to a different view after a time, that I enjoy it for reasons she actively supports. Though it was odd in her eyes then, she can see clearly now it's just a gaming hobby.
But the divide with other gamers comes from differences other than its image. Wargamers play titles where often one of the players has a lot of down time between turns. The rules for most wargames leave a lot of the other kinds of gamers shaking their head at the complexity. Steve Bucey tells me his wife says the amazing thing is he remembers rules to all those games. He doesn't really, but don't tell her.
Also the majority of wargames are two player games, not multiplayer social titles limited to just an hour or two. A single very long game is not what most of the 'other' category of gamers want, though Monopoly for example can run long if you play seriously.
A few games do cover the gaps to let the groups merge a little bit. Axis & Allies, Battle Cry, War of the Ring, Stratego, Memoir 44.... I like to think Junta bridges the gap a bit. I could go through my list at Boardgame Geek to try to identify the light games connecting in both camps, but it won't help much to connect further than just those titles.
There's a problem of definitions too. Some people consider anything with trappings of soldiers and war is a wargame. Others want more to it than merely a slight military connection. Obviously no one will call Settlers of Catan a wargame, but you hold cards for the soldiers to push the Bandit piece around and get points for largest army. And even those games with obvious military conflict don't necessarily fit the bill as a wargame.
I'd hesitate to call Axis and Allies a wargame for instance. That's the first game that comes to mind for most people who are not gamers if I tell them I play wargames. It's a wargame, true, but it's so fluffy it's just a game with trappings of warfare, not a serious wargame. Bah. Okay, so it's hard to sneer at Axis and Allies because it is still fun. But the point should be clear, there's always something each person sees differently.
Most wargamers do play other genres. I have railroad games, a tiny number of euros, and classics (such as chess, backgammon, mahjongg...). But I'm pretty much a hardcore wargamer.
The gap remains because of exclusions between the groups. Exclusion in context isn't necessarily a bad thing. People should play games they like. But there are a number of people who look down their noses at games they don't like, and sometimes at people who play those games.
So I think the real issue is elitisms. Those people who adhere to the "My choice is better than your choice" type of elitism. I think we need to respect the genre on the other side of the gap and reduce some of the elitist behavior. What hurts the hobby as a whole is hostility between genres. We're gaming enthusiasts, why should it matter if someone is playing wargames instead of Puerto Rico, or Carcassonne? It's still competitive (in most cases); one player is going to win.
Together as a group we're better than if we let our Gaming Hobby splinter into all the sub-genres. So there's a gap or two. So what? It won't hurt if we respect other gamers and what they play.
Tom: Do you feel that the Internet web sites hurt or help this splintering?
Gary: The Internet is a strange new social force. I'm not sure whether it is proving to be good or not in a number of ways.
At the moment, I think the Internet has helped pull more people together in gaming hobbies. The voices of division are magnified by the medium, but I don't think the effect has really been more division. I think the effect instead has been a greater awareness.
In the Internet's youth, there was a maxim that there was someone out there whose very existence you would be unable to stand and who in turn would be unable to stand you. That's not what's happening with gamers. The wargamers are a part of the sites that are open to all gamers like Boardgamegeek, and other gamers have an awareness of the wargame sites like Consimworld merely because there is a clear connection in the hobby. If there isn't a greater respect yet, there is at least a better acceptance of mutual co-existence.
Gaming is a hobby that isn't exactly a mainstream activity in society. I think the Internet helped people connect the dots more, even with the genre splits within the hobby that exist.
Tom: What are the best ways for an average person to promote boardgaming?
Gary: There are some easy ways to promote boardgaming. Pretty simple things you probably already do anyway.
Invite someone you know from somewhere else to game with you. You really ought to be doing something beside boardgaming. Your whole life can't be over a table. You have to know other people, do other things. If you don't do other things too, shame on you. Get out and see movies, make it to a concert, go to some sporting events, dance, something, have a life and don't stay indoors all the time. From those friends, share your games by inviting them to play the titles you know are fun.
If you meet someone you'd like to get to know and date perhaps, maybe gaming is just the right non-threatening activity to get to know each other. Socializing over a gameboard is extremely good with other people around. You get to see how they interact with other people, find their sense of humor, and learn about what makes them who they are, all in a comfortable enjoyable way. A darkened movie theater can't give you that. Even over a cup of coffee you don't get as much insight into a person.
Bring games with you when you know people are going to be sitting and talking. Not complex titles, but simple group games you can involve someone in while sitting about. You probably have something they will find amusing and social, competitive and still not threatening. You can do this at family events, school events, or church events if that's your place for connecting with people.
Always show good sportsmanship. When you win, don't gloat and rub it in. When you lose, be gracious and compliment the winner. More people will want to play with you specifically, and play the games you like, if they know they are going to be respected. You'd be amazed how many people are attracted more by good manners and sportsmanship than by clever wit, dry sarcasm and sharp cutting intellect. You may not be able to tell great jokes or crack up a crowd, but people who seem to draw the best crowds are the ones who are smiling, happy, and kind.
Play games others want to play, so when you really want to play your favorite it won't have been 'me first' all the time. After all, if you want someone to share your hobby, you have to share time in ways to make others happy too.
Give games as gifts. When you know you've found a real winner, and you know someone who games only lightly, but you exchange gifts with him or her... do so, share the enjoyment you've found. Help people find the good places to buy games and avoid the drek that sometimes shows up. It's always useful to have someone who can give you tips in advance of spending your hard earned money.
Join a club and promote the club as a group activity, as a social event, and actively support it. Most clubs can find free space, but when they can't, keep in mind it costs as much as a game for a couple to have dinner out and see a movie. Two or three games to go to a Broadway play. It's lasting entertainment too, so the cost of maintaining a club is by far cheaper than other dating activities.
Stay in touch with your gaming buds even when they move away. It's very useful when you need to find new people to play some old favorite. There is a lot of networking that goes on to find other gamers. It helps to be able to say something like:
"Hey, I know this gamer in South Korea named Joe... maybe you've met him."
Tom: There are so many conventions to go to each year. How does a person decide which to go to?
Gary: The only one who can decide the best convention for a given individual is that person themselves. We all form different attachments to people and activities at these conventions. We want to be where our friends are and where the games are we enjoy.
It's tougher when the economy affects how gamers spend money. It's so much simpler to just stay home to play with local friends. You still have one or two conventions locally though, where it's an excuse to escape from whatever day to day activities may grind you down. A place to have a change that is pretty much like a large party with piles of friends you just found. It can be a blast. It can be freedom from daily events.
I like to stick close to home myself. But if you want to travel a bit, almost every major city has something going on at some time or another. You're going to choose the convention for your favorite genre too, the ones for CCG's if you do that, the ones for Wargames if that suits your fancy, or those which play to the variety of boardgamers doing Euros lately.
Do a little research, find out what kinds of things to expect at the conventions you're considering. See if you have friends going to those conventions. Maybe a game designer whose titles you favor heavily attends it. Just dig around to see if there's anything special about a given convention that appeals to you. It's also always worthwhile supporting the ones close to home since those help attract gamers to local clubs. Clubs aren't usually high profile events, but conventions tend to be noticed by the public more. That helps clubs find more local folk.
Ultimately, no one has to go to conventions. You may well as ask some of the gamers, why bother going to conventions? You'll find if you want to meet other people who are strongly involved as you want to be, that is where you find them. Pick one or two different ones a year until you find one you like. You'll start to know the regulars there, perhaps even be part of running the convention.
If you really enjoy gaming, stay in the convention hotel. Then you can game until you drop. Having done so often enough to know what it's like to see the sun coming up over the board I'm playing on, I can tell you, it's an interesting experience. When you're playing a wargame that long, it can bring a whole new meaning to the concept of limited intelligence.
Tom: Okay, let's talk about your favorite games, both wargames and non...
Gary: Sure. My favorite non-wargames have been pretty traditional games in one sense or another. Let's see, maybe a top ten list will suit here:
10) Illuminati. Conspiracy theories are fun intellectual fictions to entertain with anyway. This game lets you almost write a little background fiction story along the way of which secret societies are pulling the strings to rule the world. There's nothing like a good rule the world fantasy.
9) Trailblazer: A fun little space trading game Greg Costikyan devised a while back. It revolves heavily around macro-economic mechanisms, but it's also fun just moving the resources around in trade.
8) GO. This has got to be the toughest simple rules two-player strategy game around. At least to me. The spatial relationships of the stones early in the game aren't nearly as obvious as it looks, and you get some very interesting placements for patterns that should be easy to control, yet it can all come undone with one very clever point seizure by the other guy. Also, there's something sweet about holding the stones from a good set in your hand. It feels so right to place them on a wood board and know you're playing a classic, not merely a fake plastic copy of one.
7) Chess. I love chess, and it has a special place in my heart as the first serious strategy game I learned. I was good enough early on that no one at school would play me. I played in tournaments for a time where it turned out I wasn't so good; it's just that the average person can't play it very well at all. I enjoy the game but dislike the psyche out trash talk before games that players have been doing, so I stopped doing tournaments. I still enjoy a good game now and then, but I can play the computer and lose now. That kind of took some of the fun out of it. Again, I love the feel of good pieces in my hand, the chess clock running to the side, and a good wood board…playing with plastic and vinyl feels almost like sacrilege sometimes.
6) Backgammon. I learned this when I was just out of high school. A couple buddies introduced me to it, and we used to take the box with us to the local bar or the beach with us all the time. We played both straight points and a variant called Shuette, where one guy is in the box and the others take turns trying to knock him out. We played for drinks, for nickels, for the heck of it, but we could play for hours just socializing over it. It became a prop activity to talk about while we were meeting people. Once again, a high quality board makes the experience richer too, a good board, nice pieces, quality cups for the dice....
5) MahJongg. I was introduced to the tile game not through the computer, but by a pair of friends in Michigan, Cheryl and Joe Oroz. It's a very fancy variation of the card game rummy, but scores in ways that most people have trouble with. As a social game, it is delightful. At our house, we really enjoy building the tile wall, just holding and playing the tiles which feel good in the hand, and the clacking sound of the tiles when you play them down. There is a straight card game version, but by comparison it's no fun. There's a certain beauty to the oriental glyphs and images too. My wife and I still enjoy this off and on, involving the children as well. Here again, I had to have a good set for myself, something with the large ivory feeling (not real ivory) pieces and wood holding trays. The quality of the set can raise your own sense of the quality of the play even if you don't do anything else different.
4) Scrabble. Words are a passion to be learned in some senses. I enjoy reading, and as I age, I enjoy writing more. The game play with words can be delightful. I have two copies of this that are very old, still have the wooden tiles. It's beautiful and feels good to handle when you play. The new plastic copies can't compare, so those wooden deluxe versions are the ones to get, clearly.
4) 1830. History is one of my things, and the 1830 set of rail titles really seem to pick up on the Robber Baron era of Railroading very well. It very nicely illustrates the way railroads were built in the US by men who manipulated the assets to build their own wealth. A cool game.
2) Euchre. I've a host of card games I enjoy, this is just the current favorite. As a trick taking card game with trump, I learned Spades first and loved that title; Hearts is a blast, Bridge is good but bidding still eludes me. But Euchre is a superb social game. The number of cards is less, so it's usually simpler to get started, the play is easy enough yet requires strategy and forethought. And being a partner game it builds team play.
1) Junta. A delightful title which pits everyone against each other for the largest Swiss bank account, taking full advantage of the people in the little banana republic you're supposed to be ruling. There is no socially redeeming aspect to any of the factions involved. Everyone is out to line his or her pockets. And sometimes you have a coup with the traditional shelling of the palace. I personally enjoy nothing better than playing Minister of Internal Security and assassinating people at the bank. Just plain wild fun if you get in the spirit.
As you can see, I've not been drawn much into the new 'designers'/euros wave much to date. I'm sure I will be; we have picked up Settlers of Catan in my household, and a few others like Rumis and Blokus because the children have developed attachments to them. Even the kids weren't thrilled with Settlers though because so much depended on chance. They love playing me backgammon lately. Kira loves Blokus both because of the patterns and the pretty bits. Rumis is also for her, since she is very good with spatial relationships required for that title.
But I'm delaying the wargame section. I'm an old so and so in the wargaming community. I started at age 13 and used to playtest games at SPI when they were around. So I literally have a couple hundred of their games. But some of the current titles are starting to push into my top favorites. Again, I'll do this as a top ten, what's hot at my house for wargames list. I could actually probably come up with 20 or so, as you might for your favorite genre, but I'm trying to keep it to what's been played recently.
10) Onslaught. This is a WWII title that came out from TSR using the SPI logo when they owned the SPI trademark for a time. It's a pretty light wargame about the battle from Normandy to the Rhine, and is simple enough to play that my son picked it up pretty quickly when he was younger. The game is a fun title, not particularly much of a simulation, but illustrates supply limitations as the allies advance. Good for about 3 hours of fun with a light wargame title.
9) Wacht Am Rhein 2. Here we go on this list from the simple game to the most complex. Wacht is about the most comprehensive game done on the Battle of the Bulge ever done. Joe Youst who designed this really put a lot of detail in, and his artwork is just incredible. People should buy this just to have the map he did. He created a work of art that happens to also be a wargame, truth be told. But he also poured an immense amount of effort into detail. The learning curve for the rules is high, but worthwhile. Historically, he gets tremendous simulation value in as well. I would put this at the #1 slot, but I don't have time and place for laying it out all the time or this probably would be all I did for gaming for quite some time.
8) Invasion: America. This is an old SPI classic. It's a great game for four players. The better known title Fortress America was a direct rip off of this title, done a bit more simply because MB felt their audience would deal better with an axis and allies like system than the chits and hexes. I enjoy this game a lot, and have been pushing for a straight reprint with only the graphics being updated, but how Decision Games chooses to manage their copyrights is up to them. This game never seems to grow old on me, even though the parties involved who would invade might change, the technology is different now, and who knows what else is different. It’s just plain fun.
7) Battles for the Ardennes (SPI). I'm a Bulge nut, can't help it. The SPI edition and the TSR reprint are excellent games on the Battle of the Bulge, among the best out there. DG reprinted it too, but reportedly changed some rules and values for the units. I haven't looked too seriously at that change, but I'm told it hurts the game. None the less, it still sits up high on my list.
6) Target: Arnhem. MMP surprised us with this little gem at Origins this year, handing out as a free game this small title about the effort to seize bridges across the Rhein through Holland by creative use of three airborne divisions and a massive relief effort from the British 30th corps. It's a very fun little game with a lot of replay value in it. It plays in about an hour once you know the rules well enough (unless you're up against one of those human rain delay guys), and I have yet to have any two games play the same. Mostly because of ease of play and the replay value, this game has seen a huge amount of play at CABS and my house.
5) Panzergruppe Guderian (L2). I've been enlisted in the group doing playtesting for Panzergruppe Guderian reprint for L2 Design. The game has been shaking out nicely, there really isn't a lot to change so it's not like there was much to step on as change. The map has been altered though. As a classic from SPI, then reprinted by TSR, this title is resilient and shows signs of really being an excellent game for L2's deluxe production treatment. I'm delighted to say it still plays with all the excitement it ever had.
4) Iron Tide: Panzers in the Ardennes. Another Battle of the Bulge title, one more of the 5 on this list. I place this in the top three of the Bulge games at the scale of regiment/brigade and roughly 1-1.25 miles to a hex. It uses a unique limited intel mechanism where you draw chits to determine the strength of the units at time of combat and yet plays very well. Nathan Kilgore has been very active in providing direct support for this title, and I would like to claim he's a friend too. I like to be supportive of my friends.
3) Fire in the Sky. This game was a big surprise to me. I passed it by at WBC for a few reasons, such as not having any money to buy games. But RJ Budway was kind enough to sell me his unpunched copy for 2/3rds the price he paid because it wasn't in his interest after all. It is extremely good he did, because Danny is excited by this game, and I'm finding myself completely taken in by the title as a fascinating treatment of the Pacific War in WWII, with a lot simpler mechanisms than most games on the subject while still getting a great amount of detail. I really like the way battles play out, and I'm impressed with how the economic factors are worked into the game. Designed by Japanese designer Tetsuya Nakamura and developed by Adam Starkweather for MMP, this should play the whole Pacific War in an evening's sitting; something other games on the topic can't do with this amount of detail. I really like the sense of how the war flows within bounds of what could have happened yet limited to historic realities. I also get a kick out of the designer's statement that no matter what the outcome of the game is, the Japanese still will lose the war. It shows an understanding of the cost to Japan of going up against the largest economic powerhouse on the planet at that time. It is impressing me as a game.
2) Deluxe Bitter Woods. Once again, we're in a Bulge title. Another of my top three list for the battle at this scale, my number two for now, and an excellent game. Randy Heller, the designer, really pushed hard to get historical accuracy in his artillery, the movement capabilities, his various other aspects. The game captures the feel of the battle, though to date, I've broken loose all too easily with the Germans. Randy has offered to demonstrate personally that shouldn't happen, and I'm looking forward to a head to head with him at some point. If for no other reason though, even without the game, he's darn good company.
1) Ardennes 44. Last and far from least, my final Bulge entry on this list. From GMT and Mark Simonitch, this title has a lot of unique aspects to it that other Bulge titles simply do not have. It also contains some interesting problems that prevent it from going past the German High Water mark. I do enjoy how it feels, capturing the feel and plays like a real battle is going on. There's a strong sense of every detail being finely tuned to make the game tense and historic. The accuracy of that is open to discussion perhaps, but the game successfully captures the suspension of disbelief as well as any game ever has for me on the topic. It gives a strong sense that the tanks are rolling, the artillery barrage time on target really could stop an attack, and the fight for position is desperate, not merely tense.
Those are current favorites, as you can tell. I'm sure if you come back in 2 months you will see some changes to those lists. For instance, in the non-wargames, I left off Bang, which is a riot to play with a full complement of participants. In the wargames I know I left off several long time favorites.
When you get to the point you have several hundred games in your personal collection, it's hard to imagine you got any title without it being a favorite at some point. It's easier for those folk who have only a dozen or two games to be able to nail those favorites, I'm sure.
Tom: So, with dozens of games being released each year, how do you determine which to buy?
Gary: I'd love to say I've got a clever plan or something to guide me to make smart choices. I don't. I am forced by budgeting issues, and the fact I've already got more games than I can play in an average year to stick to a few concepts for mostly say no to buying more games. That doesn't stop me, but it's more about finding good reasons to say yes, than planning to buy any at all. So first you have to know what to use to screen out the obvious titles not to buy.
Obviously the first limit is can I afford it? Even a $20 game isn't any good if I can't afford the scratch for it when it's available. If you're a publisher, well sorry guys, but my financial planning isn't based on your release schedule. When I can afford it, we go on to other criteria.
I will not buy games sight unseen. There are exceptions such as really inexpensive desktop publishing titles, but that's rare too. That cuts down on unpleasant surprises. I want to know what's under the hood, so to speak, before hand. I don't care about the blurbs on the box or advertising. It gives me an awareness of the game's existence, the topic, and the substance to expect, but not the quality. A designer's name means nothing to me anymore either. Every designer ends up with a game I won't want at some point, so even the most comfortable familiar designer name will not sell me a game.
The title has to be in my interest group, the genre I like & the topics for the genre, the theme perhaps if it's not a wargame. I don't know anyone who buys games they don't have some interest in playing unless they're a collector and they are looking for something else. Every game I own is a player's copy, not a one is intended to be saved for resale.
Certainly a key influence is whether my circle of opponents will be willing to play the title. So good reactions to the game from my friends helps more than a ream of reviews on the web. A reviewer on the web I trust is good to find too, but friends are more important for feedback. This is another reason I stay in touch with gaming buds across country.
I want to play the game before buying it, or else get a real good look before hand. Obviously if someone I know or the club has a copy it will get a trial run. I know from CABS a lot of games are bought after people try out the title from our library. It's been an interesting effect of having the club library.
Any mechanism to play a game in advance creates a better chance for a sale. Other folk seem to believe this too. They want to see a game board or the map, the pieces or bits, the rules to some extent, have a feel for how play works. They want to participate in a demo somewhere. Some of the Play by Email tools are great, if the companies are willing to see what a great advertising tool having the gameboard & pieces available free can be. And if I'm going to play any game more than just a demo's worth, I want a physical copy anyway to lay out and feel the pieces. So when a title is good, I'm a buyer. There's nothing like the feel of the map under your fingers and the dice in your hand, but a pre-play on a dumb computer version makes it a lot easier to part with $70 or so.
There is one subject matter on which I am an impulse buyer though. When you consider I own 27 different games about the Battle of the Bulge just now, it should be pretty clear that's an obsession of mine. I admit freely to it and refuse to seek counseling. Everyone should have an obsession or two, mine is harmless. But it costs me a fair chunk of lucre now and then.
Tom: What is your opinion of RPGs and CCGs, and how do they affect board games (or your club, for that matter)?
Gary: I used to do a fair amount of RPG play with a group in New York City. I think with a good mature adult running an RPG, younger players can get a lot out of them. For my only serious negative statement on RPG's... I think inexperienced, immature or self-interested GM's, there is a lot of negative social behavioral reinforcement too. How's that for a judgmental mouthful?
On the whole I approve of RPG's because they do something people have long forgotten how to do, exercise their imagination. Except for a few people, they want to be good guys saving the world, how can that be wrong?
I think a lot of us have been robbed somewhat of the opportunities to exercise the imagination part of our creative element. Television and Movies in an onslaught of accelerating rush, along with video games, tend to guide us into narrow limits that take the time away from just imagining. Even with Radio, you had to fill in the missing pieces yourself, but with the action and speed at which we get these other mediums there is no time to fill in gaps anymore. As much as I enjoy the thrill of a good action movie, I know it's better sometimes to just let myself turn my imagination loose. The fact so many people can get their dreams out and enjoy them with friends, as a good way to enjoy that inner creative piece of themselves has to be healthier than letting movies and TV be the only outlet.
Collectible Card Games are a marketing phenomenon, not so much a gaming genius. The model for getting the games is simple. Buy booster packs and maybe this one has the card you've been looking for to fill out your deck for play. That just reeks of marketing. Everyone should be able to see that.
I'm delighted at how it's given some good artists work... and there's a good business model there, so the next question is - are the games good? Some of them appear to be. I avoid the whole thing under the premise I can't afford single game that has the effect of becoming an addiction. I have avoided ASL for a similar reason, which doesn't mean it's not a good game. But just as I've said before, everyone sets a value themselves on the games they enjoy. I want my games to be complete up front, not missing things someone else got from spending a lot more money. The marketing model is unpleasant, regardless of the quality of the game. It may draw money away from other potentially good quality games too, if the gamers are devoted to just that one collectable system.
As to how these things affect our club... we are a boardgame club.
We're not tossing anyone out the door, but if the people who want to play CCG's or a Role Playing game want to get involved deeply in that, there's so many other better places you can go to do that. There's easily a dozen places nearby for CCG's, any comic shop or card store that sells them also hosts a couple nights a week for the CCG play and trade. There are regular tournaments now, with real cash money prizes.
If someone started to play them regularly at the club they'd probably feel isolated and left out, where they'd feel more welcome at the other places that specialize in those activities. Same is true for some of the Battletech and science fiction miniatures folk. There are places that have tables designed for the purpose, where they'll have a lot more enjoyment. We welcome that they like gaming, but they wouldn't fit comfortably doing those things at our club.
As to role-playing games, it's been our experience RPG groups tend to become insular, gathering maybe a dozen people in a campaign that will occupy their social time for the course of a year and unintentionally exclude many new faces. They meet at each other's homes as often as not, or if they meet elsewhere, they don't want a lot of other noisy activities going on. They want their space to be pretty well secure for their RPG, and they do pretty well taking care of finding each other.
Again, we don't want to exclude anyone, but we're pretty sure the RPG crowd would be uncomfortable being around boardgamers trying to get them in boardgames every session. There are, again, places they can contact each other without coming to the club for RPG's. And they do set themselves up pretty well in a variety of nooks and crannies like the CCG gamers, in comic stores, card stores, sometimes even in church activity rooms just like some small boardgame groups.
My favorite RPG was always Traveler. But I was always a fan of imagination over endless rules for the purpose and even in boardgames you need suspension of disbelief or you are just wasting time rolling dice or whatnot. Which brings in the LARP gamers too. Here again, there are better places for them to participate in doing their role playing than our club, but it has to be great to be able to get forty or fifty people in one big live action game, no? I think it's cool, anyway.
When someone wants to play board games, we're going to do everything we can to welcome them at our door. We are chartered for Board Games. We encourage people to do the kind of gaming they enjoy. But we prefer the other groups find the places more fitting their genre.
Tom: Having played so many games, what is your advice to aspiring game designers?
Gary: I'm honestly not qualified to advise game designers. I've known a fair number of successful ones in the last 30 years, give or take a few years. All I know is the ones who make it to market keep at it. They have perseverance much greater than my own. I can wing a few ideas out there....
I suspect it's a bit like becoming a published author. First, you have to produce a product publisher will believe can sell. No product, nothing to present, no interest, no sale, no publisher. Ideas are easy, putting them into practice so they work, that's the hard part.
A big one authors are told they need to learn is to get their big fat ego out of their writing, and I suspect that applies to game design too. By that I mean you're going to go through a stage in which your game is going to be criticized and someone is going to suggest changes you may think takes away from you. And if you don't accept the suggestions, you get to take a walk and the design sees only the inside of your closet. Well consider what's more important, being published or being self-righteous? Remember, it's a business, even if it's your hobby too.
Swallow the ego, talk it through with your editor, er, developer or publisher, work it through with your testers and listen to them, look at the results and don't ignore the outcomes they get. Some of them will do things using your rules you never would dream they'd pull. Really. The mantra is, this is a business even when it's a hobby, so you have to make ends meet, or it's not worth producing the product.
Get used to the fact you're going to be rejected a lot before someone publishes your game, or if it does get printed, it may not succeed. It's said that the average successful author collects literally hundreds of rejection letters before he's published. I have no clue what it's like for a game designer. Once again, the mantra...repeat after me, it's a business, not just a hobby.
Don't get the idea one success means any other games you design is going to be a success. All that means is you've been published and the publisher will look a wee bit more seriously at what you offer. Now your name is part of the marketing, as any well-known designer's name is. That's good, yet no guarantee. Remember the mantra, it's still a business regardless of whether it's your hobby or not.
I've no suggestions for where to find ideas, but keep notes when you have them. Sometimes two ideas from vastly different times can turn into meaningful ideas. It will be work. It can become very hard. But it pays off. Repeat the Mantra, wash, rinse, repeat.
Networking helps too, like any other business. John, who knows Larry, who knows Peter, who knows Alfred... who is a publisher... so being personable and friendly pays off (though there is a point where some designers can become so well known it doesn't matter if you are friendly or not).
Lastly, if you have a design in you for your own purposes, it doesn't have to be published if you don't want to. You could just do a game for you and your buds to enjoy. A lot of stuff out there is like that. Then of course if it gets popular enough maybe it's worth seeing if it can be published. Who knows...
Dan Gelber used to run a RPG where most of the players (known as 'Plaukers' by the non-player characters, you know, the guys who could have entire conversations and devise complex plans in the fractions of a second it takes between drawing your sword and swinging it...) tended to backstab each other left and right. It was distressing to see the players always undercutting each other so much, so regularly. A huge group of control freaks all trying to upstage each other, so to speak.
Well what if the game design demanded that, what if everyone had to do something to turn each other in to the authorities if they did something officially wrong... and what if every character was required to be part of some five or six 'something wrongs'.... how would you run a campaign? That notion led to Paranoia.
Who knows what other clever little ideas are hiding in some gaming enclave out there right now?
Tom: Gary, thanks for the detailed responses! Do you have any final thoughts for our readers?
Gary: Tom, most of your readers just need to keep gaming; finding what they like to do; they don't really need anything more. So long as they keep at it, the hobby stays alive and healthy. After all, isn't that what we all want, more gaming?
Tom Vasel
"Real men play board games"
November 2,
2005