Things I've Noticed: Fiscal Responsibility can be COOL!

When I was a kid board games came pretty cheap - you could usually count on a game of checkers or travel scrabble from the kid who was forced to come to your birthday party because his mom worked with your mom, and although you would end up playing them a lot, you didn't feel that the cost was very high.

Now as a parent, and in the era of expansion-crazy games like Zombies!!! (Which is still pretty fun) or Settlers of Cattan (also fun) I can honestly say that games are pricey, but definitely worth it.

Case in point, Arkham Horror - an H.P. Lovecraft inspired game that I first heard about when I was reading reviews for Zombies!!!, mostly in the "it's a solid game, not quite as fun as Arkham Horror, but totally worth the cash" sort of comment. As a pretty big Lovecraft fan myself, the game seemed a no-brainer, the only problem, it costs over $50 (Canadian).

So I decided that for every trip I took to the comic-book store and didn't buy anything, I would put $10 to the side and after six visits (can't forget about tax) I could pick up the game.

Last weekend I got it and this weekend I'm hoping to try it out. In some ways I think that by waiting the six weeks to save up for the game, my anticipation for playing it has gone way up and as my wife says, "sometimes I make fiscal responsibility look sexy!"

Things I've noticed: My love affair with board games

We're basically at the one-week mark of me living without my Wii console - and its time I start exploring my board game collection. We've got all the standards, Monopoly (Star Wars), Settlers of Cattan (with most of the expansions), and even a board game based on the Vampire the Requiem Role Playing Game.

The game I think I'm going to focus on over the next week, however, is Puerto Rico. I've heard a lot of good things about it, and since it was given to me about six months ago, I haven't taken it out of the box.

Apparently you play plantation owners in 1700s Puerto Rico and try to create the best plantation. It sounds kind of like Settlers, but at the same time I've heard it compared to Chess in the strategic nature of the game.

It's kind of funny, just like I've got a "To Be Read" shelf of books and a "To Be Seen" shelf of movies. I've got a "To Be Played" shelf of games (both Board and Video), and yet I'll often wander around my house looking for things to do...

Anyway, I've clearly started to ramble, so good night everybody!