From Glory to Glory: Development of a Block Gamer
John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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There has been much talk/shouting/debate lately regarding "Ameritrashers" and "Eurosnoots."
This list is here to outline what is available as a "third way."
Block gaming.
I am an unabashed block lover, and I'm speaking up now, because I know that I'm not alone!
Blockheads can move freely between the worlds of Ameritrash and Eurosnoot, enjoying what is good in each. We even like and appreciate the Grognards, though we don't always share their fondness for 80-page rulebooks and endless levels of complexity.
As Blockheads, I'm certain that we all feel that, sooner or later, all gamers will convert to blocks.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>A Relationship With Blocks Begins at an Early Age</b>
Most of us have grown up playing with some sort of blocks.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children <a href="http://www.parentingweb.com/dev_edu/blockplay.htm>has this to say</a>:
<b>Blocks help children learn</b>
<b>Socially—</b>Blocks encourage children to make friends and cooperate. Large block play may be a young child's first experience playing in a group, while small block play may encourage an older child to work with others in solving problems.
<b>Physically—</b>When children reach for, pick up, stack, or fit blocks together, they build strength in their fingers and hands, and increase eye-hand coordination. Around two, children begin to figure out which shapes will fit where, and get a head start on understanding different perspectives—skills that will help them to read maps and follow directions later on. Blocks help kindergarten and primary grade children develop skills in design, representation, balance and stability.
<b>Intellectually—</b>Blocks help children learn across many academic subjects. Young children develop their vocabularies as they learn to describe sizes, shapes, and positions. Preschoolers and kindergarteners develop math skills by grouping, adding, subtracting and eventually multiplying with blocks. Older children make early experiments with gravity, balance, and geometry.
<b>Creatively—</b>Blocks offer children the chance to make their own designs, and the satisfaction of creating structures that did not exist before. Beginning at the age of two, children may use a variety of blocks for pretend-play. Children may become life-sized actors in large block structures, or use figures to create dramas in miniature landscapes.
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2.
Board Game: Jenga
[Average Rating:5.46 Overall Rank:6952]
John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Exploration</b>
So, you spent a lot of your childhood playing with blocks. AND you spent most of your childhood playing bad mass market American games. Unfortunately, you wouldn't have come across very many games featuring wood at all. Some lucky child may have stumbled across Napoleon , but most of us had to settle for Jenga.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Regression</b>
As we got older, we discovered "better" boardgames, loaded with plastic. Others may have discovered cardboard chits at this time. It doesn't matter too much which. What matters is that we began to forget the pleasures of block play. Eventually, an emptiness is felt that cannot be ignored.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Taking the Long Way Home</b>
Sooner or later, someone introduces you to a Euro. Maybe it’s Settlers, maybe it’s Carcasonne, it doesn’t really matter. What matters is that these games have lovely wooden components. Your mind and your heart experience a glimmer of recognition and are beginning to feel satisfied once more.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Recognition </b>
BGG is discovered. It doesn’t take long to discover the wide array of games available, including something called “block games” You read lots of "Geeklists" devoted to this "new" type of game. You pick one up. Maybe it's War of 1812. Maybe it's something else. The beginning of a great reconciliation has begun. You find yourself a bit less interested in other sorts of games.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Surprised by Joy</b>
Then, you move on to the middleweights like Hammer of the Scots or Crusader Rex. It doesn't take long (no longer than reading the rulebook) to realize that you've found your heart's desire. As far as gaming goes, it doesn't get much better than this.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Commitment</b>
It’s not long before you’re fighting most of WWII over the course of an entire day. With blocks, all things are possible.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>To Fog or Not to Fog?</b>
The “fog of war” is what block games capture so well. Sooner or later, though, you stop caring about fog of war. You just want more blocks.
You begin to pick up games like Clash For a Continent or Command and Color:Ancients. These games could have just as easily used cardboard chits or plastic as there is no hidden info via the blocks. Yet, these companies, through these games, have caught the Block bug and it is all the better for us block addicts. Once you've gone block, you never go back.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Needing a Fix</b>
The next step, of course, is using leftover blocks from other games and adding them to a game that really doesn’t need them at all.
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John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Full Circle</b>
Finally, when the day is done, if you’re lucky enough to have children, you go back to playing with the blocks that started it all.
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11.
Board Game: Zendo
[Average Rating:7.31 Overall Rank:282]
John Owen
United States
Lisle
New York
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<b>Zen and the Art of Block Game Maintenance</b>
When Buddha was in Grdhrakuta mountain he turned a block in his fingers and held it before his listeners. Every one was silent. Only Maha-Kashapa smiled at this revelation, although he tried to control the lines of his face.
Buddha said: `I have the eye of the true teaching, the heart of Nirvana, the true aspect of non-form, and the ineffable stride of Dharma. It is not expressed by words, but especially transmitted beyond teaching. This teaching I have given to Maha-Kashapa.'
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Plymouth
Minnesota
Camano Island
Washington
I'm a block gamer myself, and you captured the arc of my game history almost exactly.
I might have added Eastfront, but EE might be more representative.
Great final quote from Buddha.