Mia Herrera: Board Game Collector

My blog undeniably began as a writing blog. At the time of its inception writing was my sole focus and therefore naturally became my blog’s sole focus. As previously mentioned, however, after my break up with writing I had to look for other, less scornful past times to occupy me in my off hours. That’s when I picked up games.

When I started working at Ganz I in no way labeled myself as a gamer. Yes, I enjoyed the occasional button-crushing Soul Caliber or Street Fighter match with a friend or relative, played Fable 1 from beginning to end, couldn’t stomach the disaster that was Fable 2, and enjoyed all the Sims products with God-like creationist glee, but these instances marked the extent of my gaming experience: Reasonable, but not boast-worthy. It was at Ganz, however, that I began hearing about this or that board or card game – and no, I’m not talking about Monopoly or Uno, but about foreign, yet unheard of (to me at least) concoctions. I was politely interested, but I was an impatient person who enjoyed the instant gratification and speedy conclusions of 3 min YouTube videos and momentary riddles. Games as prolonged as Scrabble or Monopoly, each lasting painstaking hours at a time, hardly attracted me.

It just so happened, however, that within one week my brother picked up Settlers of Catan and my co-worker brought Gloom to work. To those who have played either game, they will know these two games are completely different. They aren’t even presented in the same form (one is a card game; the other is a board game). That week, however, and with both games, I experienced an interesting sensation not unlike the warm excitement I get with new books. Here were novel items. Here were items worthy of collection.

My first bout with Gloom was quick and dirty. My co-worker busted out his pack in the lunchroom and we finished a mini-game within the half hour. Catan was a more prolonged affair, attended by the ceremony of clearing our dining room table for play space and fishing out snacks from the kitchen cabinet. Both experiences were radically different, but from that week on I was captivated by the thought of “game time” – an elusive, not-often-experienced period in which electronic entertainment became secondary to the human interaction occurring over mere cardboard, wood or paper. How romantic! I’d thought nights like that had become extinct in the 20th century!

I purchased Gloom the next week and soon after borrowed Hobby Games: The 100 Best from a co-worker. My intention is to nab all 100 listed books, and the 100 after that listed in the book’s sequel (in the meantime nabbing both books to add to my still-growing book collection). I’ve started at A with Acquire and intend to go all the way to Z. What can I say? I’ve fallen in love – hard – and want a room full of games to mirror my much adored room full of books.

While my book reviews are reserved for Live in Limbo, my game reviews are much less formal concoctions that will be posted as they come here on MiaHerrera.com. I know that skews the focus of my site a bit, but I suppose my blog grows as I grow. It’s kind of neat to know there’s this little space on the web that is filled with everything I find interesting!

(And don’t worry, folks. If you’re still coming here for writing matters, feel free to screen game reviews by clicking the Writing tab on the left. Game reviews will (naturally) be stored under Games and won’t appear under that category!)