Les Bonnes Choses

When one finds themself uprooted and building a new circle of friends, one is quite vulnerable. There are some things one might not be comfortable revealing about themself to strangers for fear of being labelled abnormal and ostracized. It is inevitable, then, that one has to keep some aspects of themself secret from those around them -- at least until they have earned one's trust.

That's how I feel now.

Before our circle of friends started to diffuse (this is common among academics and profesionals, I imagine), we regularly enjoyed all sorts of games: physical games (dodgeball), card games, board games, and if I go back far enough, RPGs. When we moved, I left most of my nerdiest gear in a box in London. Two things that did come with us, however, were our set of Settlers of Catan variants, and a Cranium variant called Pop 5. Pop 5 is the sort of game that can be easily brought to any old party (we brought it to Lori and Mark's NYE party this year where it seemed to go over well enough). Settlers of Catan, however, requires between 3 and 6 thick-skinned people (the game may involve screwing over your friends).

So as our games collect dust in our living room, we are left with the problem of sifting through the people that we meet to find people with whom we could share our hobby. At the birthday party for one of Jude's classmates, I asked one friendly set of parents flat-out whether they played board games, and if they had ever heard of the game. Engineering a conversation so that you can ask about Settlers of Catan is awkward. And for the number of people I may have to ask, it's also time-consuming. One approach I have taken involves using a gaming cant to try to discover other like-minded individuals. For example, I could point to the tile floor in a public washroom and say something like, "Hey man, look at all those hexes. I wonder where I'm going to put my first settlement," and see who responds with that sly knowing smile. I have found, however, that this doesn't go over well in the men's room. It went even worse in the ladies room.