And silence contagious in moments like these
Consumed me and strengthened my will to appease
The passion that sparked me one terrible night
And shocked and persuaded my soul to ignite
-Phish

How I Started:
I grew up playing card games and other US board games. In high school, my younger brother started to play heavier games such as Supremacy and Junta. While I was not really a part of his game groups, I did play enough to get a good exposure to this style of games. I had a time of playing Magic: The Gathering CCG a lot in college and then did not play any games for a few years. When I started to hang out with my brother again in the late 90's, he and his wife were playing a lot of Advanced Squad Leader (ASL). Living in California, I found some other ASL players in the area and started to play ASL on a regular basis. After a couple years of playing ASL, I started to play 'Euro' games with my non-gamer friends. (Yes ASL is my gateway game) We played a lot of Carcassonne, The Settlers of Catan and The Princes of Florence.

Who I Play With:
Since 2000 I have been playing mostly 'Euro' games. I generally play with the same group of friends once a week or so. I also play games with my wife when I can get her to play. I still play lots of games with my brother and sister-in-law when we see each other. Recently I have started to branch out and play at a few of the local game groups. My favorite group by far is the Berkeley games group that plays on Thursdays. If you are in the Bay Area, you really should check this group out.

Ratings:
I generally keep my ratings current. I will only rate a game I have played more than 4-5 times. All my ratings are relative to each other and I try and maintain an average of 6.5 in my ratings. Since I try and wait to rate items, my ratings tend to be fairly consistent over time. While there are a few exceptions, most games do not move up or down more than a point for their original rating.

Top Ten:
My Top Ten are my all time favorite games. I generally try and wait 6 months or so and let a game get over 10 plays before I consider it for my Top Ten. These games are in no particular order.



Hot Ten:
My 'Hot' games are games that I either would like to try, games that I have not gotten to the table in a while and would like to or games I have played recently and want to play again real soon. If we are having a game night and you own one of the games on my hot list, please bring it.



Recording Plays:
I started recording games played at the start of 2008. I have since then recorded everyone game I have played against real opponents. (Face to Face or Online.) I also recored a single play on 1/1/99 for all games I have played previous to January 2008. This way I get a true representation of 'New to Me' games and not just games that I played after 2008.

My Recently Played Games:
These are the last 10 games I have played.