Gaming at Work

I have been trying to introducing boardgaming to my colleagues for a few months now. Let me recount my rendezvous.

For those who know me, they know my occupation; for those who don’t, sorry, I would like to tell you but I’ll have to kill you then, :)

Basically, there is 2 different time for gaming in my work place.

Firstly, Friday lunch hour, for those familiar with Malaysia, it’s usually a long lunch hour as our Muslim friends will go praying in the mosque. I can usually game for 2-3 hours.

Secondly, my work involves night duty on weekday and 24 hour shift work on weekends and public holiday. There will usually be 3-4 people doing the shift job and the workloads really depends, you can be up 24 hours or you sleep 24 hours but most of the time, it’s in between. Therefore, it’s ideal to setup boardgame to play in-betweens.

And it’s usually a different crowd in both the 2 gaming opportunities.

My lunch hour group runs between 2 players to 6 players (including myself). Let me list the games that I have tried so far:

1 ) Star Wars: Epic Duel

This is my first game here. 4 players. Played 2 games, Easy and Fun game. Who don’t like Star Wars?

2 ) Category 5

A light party game.

3) Condottiere

3-players. Well received.

4) Mag-Blast 3rd Edition

2-players, so-so response.

5) Settler of Catan

3-players.

6) Family Business

5-players. This is the first game that they sing praises of, which surprised me because I thought the game was chaotic; maybe it’s just the gamer in me. Anyway, everyone had a good time.

7) Betrayal at House on the Hill

4-players. It’s the scenario with Vampire Bats, when the Haunt started and the traitor turned up, I switched with him to become the traitor (easier for newbie to play heroes); I rolled like shit and the game end promptly because all the location needed to win is nearby, I did only minimal damages with the handful of Bats. Anyway, had a great time.

8) Through the Desert

3-players. Well liked.

9) Last Night on Earth

2 games with 2 players. 1 game with 5 players. They were impressed. The last game was the scenario where the heroes needed to destroy the spawning pit. With 1 hero dead and 2 heroes near dead but the heroine with dynamite at full health, all my zombies are on board but scattered (due to Take Over cards), it’s a race to see who reach first; I played several Locked doors to prevent the heroine from moving and managed to assemble a team of zombies lurching toward her. Then the hero finally sacrifices himself to lure away the zombies for her to runaway and win. Fantastic stuff!

10) Pirates Cove

5 players. They are so into the pirate thingy; one guy keep attacking the Legendary Pirates just to prove himself.

11) Colossal Arena

5 players. 2-3 players didn’t understand the rule well or it’s me that explain poorly.

12) San Juan

2 players (2 games). Fast and fun.

13) Dungeonquest

2 players. I lost but the other player manages to escape although with little treasures. But at least she survived.

14) Clash of Gladiators

4 players. Always fun to roll dice to attack your opponenets.

15) Iliade

3 players and 4 players. They enjoy this one.

16) Fairy Tale

2 games (4 players). Another quick game but fun.

17) Neuroshima Hex

3 players. The 2 players did not enjoy this. Make me feel like I was forcing them to play.

18) Hera & Zeus

2 games. One of my earliest game I bought in my collection.

19) LOTR: Confrontation

2 games. Well received.

20) Conquest of Fallen Land

3 players. Nice

21) Bootlegger

5 players. This is another big HIT! They enjoy the street-talk, the negotiation, rolling for whiskey, lining up the truck …. A Blast!

22) Pillar of the Earth

3-players. Enjoyed by both the players.

The Shift group has even more variable players as it depends on who I am working with that day.

1) Memoir 44

There is this one guy who like history and military stuff. Naturally I brought this to lure him into gaming.

2 ) Twilight Struggle

Again, played with the history buff, he likes them and knows a lot of the event depicted in the cards. I won as US.

3) Crusader Rex

The 3rd game I brought. We stopped the game halfway because he screwed up big time with winter attrition as Saracean despite my constant reminding.

4) LOTR: Confrontation

1 game. Played with a guy from my lunch group.

5) Dungeon Twister

2 games. Same guy from my lunch group, He really likes this game.

6) Fury of Dracula

3 games! One guy saw us playing and mentioned that he played Scotland Yard before; what other better game to bring than FoD? The first game was a learning game, second game he really start to plan ahead, third game; he played as Dracula and I managed to rope in another interested party (A vegeterian lady that i hve no idea that she is fond of horror stuff) to play as Hunter with me. (Played in different days; Dracula win all 3 games)

7) Hannibal: Rome vs Carthage

I try this game with the history buff again. He was Hannibal and I Roman. Game ended early with Roman Victory.

8) Pillar of the Earth 2 games (3 & 4 players).

I managed to get 2 newbies to try this and their response is: “I never knew boardgame can be so fun!). Second game was played with the same 2 guys plus the history buff; I was surprised that he enjoyed it so much, maybe he is a closet Euro and not a grognard; Hmmm…..

Finally, I am going away for attachment in another place for 1 month in the coming month.

My colleague said this:

“Leave some games for us; it would be boring without you around.”

These are such gratifying words. Can a geek ask for more?

Happy Gaming!